Painting Love
by Belle Mortre
Summary: When Richard Grayson is sent to a boarding school for the arts, he meats Kori Anders, a beautiful and vivacious violinist with a dark past. Can they together overcome the horrors of their pasts and find love in their future through her music and his art?
1. Chapter 1 Welcome to Summerset

Richard Grayson looked sullenly up at the old Tudor mansion he was now expected to call home. 'Well', he thought ruefully, 'as boarding schools go this doesn't look _so_ bad.'

He still couldn't believe that Bruce was forcing him to spend his senior year in this ritzy upstate New York boarding school. So he had taken a few too many women to his bed, was that any reason to send Rich to the other end of the country? The man sighed, readjusted the dark sunglasses he wore everywhere, ran a hand through is long black locks, and pushed through the largo oak front doors.

Whatever the sign above the door had said, this was not what he had thought the _Summerset School for the Artistically Gifted_ would look like. He had expected a school full of snooty, preppy kids whose only prerogative was to pull you down. Just like his old school in Gotham.

But the room he found himself in was a huge, high-ceilinged one with a shiny marble floor in black and white tiles. Across the arching ceiling and white walls someone had painted the words love, passion, torture, despair, serenity, anguish, wings, all on bright greens and blues. No doubt done by one of the students. "Dear god Bruce, " he murmured, "what have you gotten me into now?"

Just then a short, stuffy looking man appeared at the top of the large wooden staircase at the other end of the entry hall. "Oh my! My dear boy, do come in" he called out in a nervous little voice. "I am Headmaster O'Flaherty and you must be Mr. Grayson. Do come in." He motioned again and Richard had soon joined him at the top of the stairs.

"Come come, follow me and we'll go down the main office to get you settled, find your classes. Your things arrived yesterday and have already been taken up to your new room."

As the headmaster lead Richard through a maze of sunny corridors, the new student took the time to closer examine his new teacher. O'Flaherty was a tiny, squat man, slightly balding and with a nervous habit of fluttering his hands when he spoke.

"I've heard so much about you from Mr. Wayne. He just raves about your art work."

**_That_** took Richard by surprise. "Bruce actually said something _good _about my work. That's a new one." He chuckled derisively as the pair walked through a door into the school's main office.

"Why yes, your guardian thought this would be the perfect place to nurture you artistic talents. And I must say I agree, after seeing the portfolio of you work."

The headmaster had stopped in front of a sectary's desk and was talking to her in low whispers. After a second she pounded a few keys on her computer and printed out a sheet covered in class assignments.

Richard, being a superb judge of character, could tell that the next thing he planned to say would really disturb the headmaster and his sectary in her neat little skirt suit and close cropped red hair.

"He sent me here because of the art? And all this time I thought it was because of the slipping grades and the women." And indeed, both headmaster and sectary seemed scandalized. 'My god, are all the people in this place so tightly wound?" he thought.

O'Flaherty was the first to recover. Muttering something about guardians and loose women, the tiny man ushered Richard into his office off the main room.

"Well Mr. Grayson, here is your new coarse schedule for the year. Please take a seat while I find someone to give you a tour of the school and grounds."

Richard slumped down into an antique leather chair covered in brass furniture tacks. The headmaster settled him self behind his large desk and scrolled around on his computer for a few minuets before exclaiming, "Ah ha! Here we go, Ms. Roth has a free afternoon. She will be able to give you a lovely tour of the grounds." He pressed a button on his intercom and said, "Mrs. Lewis, could you summon Ms. Roth to me office please? Thank you." O'Flaherty returned his attention to Richard.

"Now Mr. Grayson. We here at the Summerset School for the Artistically Gifted cherish all of the arts: Painting, sculpting, photography, ect. Also music, theater, dance, vocals. Our students are an unusual breed of people with an interesting outlook. I'm sure you will fit in just fine here." He chuckled softly before saying, "And I am more than sure that Ms. Roth can give you a better picture of a student's life here than I can. Ah, here she is now. Come in Raven."

Richard turned to see a girl garbed all in black framed in the doorway. She was a petit little thing with pale skin and clearly died violet hair. She also had a rather guarded look in her huge purple eyes. "You needed me for something Headmaster?" she dsaid in a board monotone of a voice.

"Yes, come in my dear." O'Flaherty turned back to Richard. Raven Roth is one of our top literary students. She will give you as best a tour as anyone could" With that said, O'Flaherty shoved Richard's coarse schedule into his hands, shuffled from the room, and left Richard under the scrutinizing gaze of Raven Roth.

Kori sighed in contentment as she tuned her violin against Garfield on the piano. A little tweaking here or there brought her to the perfect A. All around them the rest of the symphony warmed up. The cellists let _Ava Maria_ float into the back of the theater, the four flutists were bickering about who was most out of tune, and their conductor, Gelfarius, was trying to pass out copies of the Brahms First Symphony to the rest of the strings and winds.

Kori loved her conductor. Since her and Gar's arrival three years prior, Gelfarius had been nothing short of a miracle worker. He had helped get Kori and Garfield on music scholarships and had even taken them in during the summers, when they had no place else to go.

He was also the closest thing she and Garfield had to a father.

As though summoned by her thoughts Gelfarius was suddenly kneeling at the front on the stage, looking down at his star pupils in the pit with the grand piano.

"All right you two, I have everything else ready. I need you Garfield to run them through a few scales to properly warm them up and if anyone is drastically out of tune, call them down here to fix it. You have a good ear for that sort of thing."

"I'm on it chief", Gar said in his usual goofy way. Kori and Gelfarius just rolled their eyes

"Kori, come with me. I have something to show you."

"Sure all right", Kori said as she followed her mentor up the stairs onto the stage and through the doors at the back into the man's office.

"What's up Gelfie?" she asked once he had shut the door behind them.

"Wait here". Gelfarius began shuffling around in his back closet, finally emerging with a cardboard box filled to the brim with music.

"Oh my god", Kori gasped, a hand at her throat. "Oh. My. God. Is that …is it?"

Gelfarius beamed proudly. "Yes it is. I finally got through with the publishing house and we have here the very first printed copy of _Dolore Imperdonabile_. You should be very proud of your work my dear."

Kori couldn't believe her eyes. There, in her own hands, was the first printed copy of her own music. She had slaved for two hot summer months with he violin, a piano, and hundreds of pieces of sheet music to finally turn out _Dolore Imperdonabile. _At one point she hadn't left her room for three days, just laid on her bed with notes flowing through her head.

"Gelfie, I...I can't thank you enough. You can't know how much this means to me."

The conductor laughed, "I think I might have an inkling. And just like I said last summer, your work will be the finale peace in next week's performance when we play for the Ounatuu Corporation and the school donors. I heard some collage scouts might be coming and thought your Aria would add just the right touch."

Kori flung her arms around Gelfie's neck in a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you! Thank you Gelfie!" There were tears in hr eyes when she pulled away.

"Oh, you can really feel the love in this room", Gar said from the doorway. "Everything's in place Gelf, we're ready for her", he continued.

"Perfect", the older man grinned.

"What's going on?" Kori asked suspiciously as her two favorite men covered her eyes and lead her by the hand back out to the auditorium. When they had her positioned her on the end of the stage, Garfield gave the signal, a huge grin on his face.

A hundred voices shouted, "Congratulations Kori Anders!" The entire symphony was standing in the seats surrounding something large and flat, covered in black cloth.

Kori gasped in awe at the grinning crowd as one of the trumpets and a drummer named Aden pulled of the cloth. It revealed a huge glossy picture of Kori in a formal black dress holding her violin in the ready position. Above her were the words _Stars of Fire, Summerset Symphony Performing Oct. 5th through Oct. 21st._ Featuring _Dolore Imperdonabile by Kori Anders._ The whole thing was mounted on a sturdy wooden frame about ten feet high.

Kori, being a naturally emotional person, surprised no one when she broke down crying in Gar's arms. Everyone simply laughed and made their way back to the stage, gathering up their instruments as they went, leaving the billboard propped up in the seats. Kori was still crying with joy and love.

"Ah, _de lieveling_, don't cry Kori," Linka said in a thick Dutch accent laced with affection. Everyone loved Kori.

"We're gonna mount them up in some clubs in N.Y.C. and on the highways near the Berkshires", said Aden, the drummer who had pulled the cloth. "There are like twenty more in the storage closet. We'll get a packed house every night with that picture of you on it." Consequently, Aden had the hots for Kori in a **big** way.

He smirked and moved closer, much to close. "You looked really great in that dress Kori". She was just wondering how to escape Aden's grasp when Garfield appeared over his shoulder. Gar could spot trouble from a mile away.

With one hand balled into the back of Aden's shirt and the other at the pressure point at the base of his neck, Gar pulled Aden backwards to him whispering, "If you touch her again I will kill you."

Garfield released the teen and he stumbled over to the drums looking both irritated and unnerved. For while everyone knew Kori was well loved, they also knew that Garfield Logan was **_extremely_** protective of her, for reasons unknown. Any man who was stupid enough to try something with Kori soon got his ass kicked by Gar. Gelfarius tended to turn a blind eye on these occasions.

In his opinion, anyone who gave Kori false promises deserved a good beating.


	2. Chapter 2 Bonjourno!

The girl called Raven had already shown Richard the dining room, taken him for a quick glance at the gym in the basement and shown him the lecture halls where he would be taking part of his major classes in art history.

Richard had had the shock of his life when he had inspected his schedule to find that he would be majoring in art and minoring in theater. **Theater**!

"Don't worry, its not so bad" Raven had assured him. His tour guide seemed to have decided she liked him and was trying hard to get him settled in. "The theater department has a pretty interesting crowd. And they put on great shows," she continued in her monotone voice. "Actually, tonight they're finishing a three week stint of Miss Saigon. I'll ask Victor to take you".

"Victor?" Richard asked as they strode through the sprawling old mansion on their way to the theater (Raven had said she needed to meet up with someone there).

"Yes, Victor Stone. He will be one of you new roommates, along with Garfield Logan. The boys are okay, they'll take care of you."

"Cool. So what's up with these classes in this place like anyway?" Richard was slowly warming up the old building, with its twisting staircases, diamond paned windows, and intricate Tudor stone work. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all, despite having to take theater as a minor.

"Well," Raven began, "What happens here is that you take a major and a minor. My major is English and I minor in art history. So every day I take two separate hour and a half lectures in modern English literature and AP European poetry, and then every other day I take a three hour lecture in art history."

Richard was wowed, this girl made it all seem so easy. She was speaking again.

"According to your schedule, you take Masters Art with Marguerite D' Loncre. She's okay and Masters Art is the highest-level class offered here. She teaches most of her classes either in her apartments upstairs or out on the roof. And your theater classes will be either in the theater or in one of the studios behind it. Frank Carmody is pretty cool; he is head of the theater department. And you don't need to worry about finding your classrooms. Victor takes Masters Art and my roommate Kori minors in theater also. Between the two of them you'll probably be fine. Oh, here we are".

They had arrived outside a small door that when opened by Raven reveled a narrow set of stairs. Richard followed the girl dutifully up them to face a red velvet curtain at the top. On the other side there sounded something very much like music, but he couldn't be sure through the thick material in front of him. His companion flung the curtain aside and stepped down into an ornate balcony hanging over a theater.

It was a beautiful place, clearly very old. High ceilings done in elaborate gilt-work soared above rows of seats made of red velvet and hammered brass. Balconies grew out of the walls on three levels, Raven and Richard sat in the middle tier. But by far the most beautiful thing in the room war the symphony playing on the stage.

Richard easily recognized the piece they played from all the times Bruce had forced him to take this or that debutant to the Philharmonic. It was the Brahms First Symphony. And neither Raven nor Richard had ever heard it played more beautifully.

The notes soared into the back of the theater, rising and falling then crawling back up again with an incredible intensity. It was then that Richard noticed the billboard propped up in the seats. There was a woman with flaming red hair that fell in glistening red waves to her hips and in her hands there was a clearly expensive violin.

Richard was a to strange an angle to read the words above her, but in that moment decided she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. He had just turned to his companion to ask whom the woman was when the music stopped and the sound of one lone violin stretched up to the balcony. Richard looked down at the stage and felt a thrill of excitement rush through him.

It was she. The woman from the picture. Only she wasn't in a formal black gown. This unknown angle was in a flowing white peasant skirt with a wide brown belt and a spangley turquoise tunic top. Her hair was no longer straight but looked as though it had been permed. Richard much preferred the long loose curls held back by chopsticks.

She stood apart from the rest of the orchestra, beginning a haunting violin solo.

"Oh perfect," he heard Raven whisper, as though she didn't want to disturb the peace and calm the music provided. "We just made it".

Richard turned back to his guide, "Raven, who is that woman? Who is she?" he asked feverishly.

"That's Kori Anders, my roommate. You'll be in her theater class."

"She's wonderful."

"Hmmm", Raven agreed, "Kori is one of those people who is good at whatever she does. Leads in all the shows, first chair violinist. I think she and Garfield play in high-class clubs and concerts during the breaks."

"Garfield?"

"Garfield Logan. He's one of your roommates. That's him down there in the pit."

The dark girl leaned over the side of the balcony to point out a small pit under the stage. Inside there was a grand piano and at the keys was a man of about 18folowing the music as Kori played it above him. Garfield was slightly built with a shock of spiky brown hair.

"They're both brilliant musicians. Prodigies or something like that. Kori and he are here on music scholarships. They came here together you know."

"Oh yeah?" Richard felt an unexplained pang of dread creep up his spine. "They must be pretty close, huh"

"Yeah. Garfield is way overprotective of Kori. He beats the shit out of any man who comes near her."

Now **_that_** was funny! "That little guy?" Richard was trying hard not to laugh, when the thought that a stiff wind could knock the pianist over was ever present in his mind.

"Don't look so surprised," Raven said, taking in his incredulous look. "Garfield isn't as strong as most, but he is fast and smart in a fight. Bigger, stronger guys have been taken down by Gar simply because he can outwit them."

"Huh, no kidding. So what's the story with these two?"

"Well like I said, they came together, about three years ago, about a year after I came. I used to go to the Chaminade School down on Long Island until, about four years ago, the Jesuit brothers finally snapped sand expelled me for writing things 'against the name of God'. Couldn't give a damn though, I'm an atheist anyway. So a year later these two show up, demand an audition for a scholarship, and next thing I know I'm helping her move into the room we share."

"Wow," he murmured. Then something strange struck home with him. "But, where were their families? Those two couldn't have been more than fifteen at the time, didn't their families come with them?"

Something passed behind Raven's eyes and the guarded look in them intensified.

"I…I'm not sure. Kori doesn't like to talk about it and I'm not really that close with Garfield. But from what Victor has said, Gar doesn't like to discuss it much either. But, hey, I don't like to talk about my past so were all kind of even." She paused "I don't usually take this much. More of a listener".

Richard, sensing that his companion was no longer comfortable dwelling on the past, decided to focus on the present and the enchanting music it provided. It astonished him that this woman could have made such a journey in her life at such a young age, relying only ion her talent as a musician. It both inspired him and shamed him.

Ever since Bruce Wayne had taken him in after the tragic deaths of his family, Richard had had everything handed to him on a silver platter. The only thing he truly worked at was his art.

The young man's thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a large, bald black man who pushed aside the curtains behind them and lumbered in. Richard and Raven turned in their seats but only Richard was surprised by the newcomer.

"Hello Victor", Raven said in a low voice.

"Hey Rae. Did I make it in time?" he rumbled softly taking a seat on Richard's right.

"Yeah, they haven't started it yet." The girl answered. "By the way, this is Richard Grayson. He is going to be your and Gar's new roommate so be nice."

"Hey," Rich said.

"Hey man, nice to meet ya". They shook hands and Richard decided he liked Victor Stone. He seemed like a goon, honest guy and Rich could use some honesty in his life lately.

They pulled back and Richard asked, " So what's going on here. I feel like I've missed something".

"Watch and learn man, its about to start. We'll explain in a minuet"

Suddenly the music began again. And it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. It was haunting and mystical all at once, and reminded them all of some primal pain. And though Richard could have sworn he had heard everything from Beethoven to Beyonce, he had never heard **_anything_** quite like this.

This was easily one of the best moments in Kori's life. Hearing her friends playing her own work brought Kori back to the edge of tears. Indeed, the only thought that kept her from crying was the notion that she needed to concentrate her music. As Moira Duggan and Joyce Lee began their flute /oboe solo, Kori took the time to scan the empty audience seats.

There they were! In their usual balcony sat Raven, Victor, and a stranger she didn't recognize. . Kori was to far away to see him clearly, but found the dark hair and glasses mysteriously intriguing.

Finally _Dolore Imperdonabile_ ended and Gelfarius lead the rest of the symphony in a standing ovation.

She rose up from her chair laughing. "That is enough my friends, enough. You take this to far!"

"Honey, I don't think we take this far enough." Victor's voice sounded from behind her in the audience.

She laughed again and, setting her violin carefully on a chair, swung her self off the stage into Victor's waiting arms. (Victor Stone was the only man Garfield let near his precious Kori). The large black man spun her around once before setting her down. Kori kissed him swiftly on the cheek and turned her attention to Raven.

The dark girl granted one of her rare smiles, "That was the most beautiful thing you have ever written Kori".

"Whoa hold up." The dark-haired stranger interrupted, "You wrote that? That was amazing!"

For the first time Kori gave he full attention to the newcomer and Richard finally understood what it meant to be lost in a woman's eyes. They were as astounding as her music. Two vivid pools of liquid emeralds. Those eyes were now turned inquiringly onto him and Richard found it hard to speak.

"I uh… its just that I meant…I've, never heard **_anything_** so… incredible." He finished, somewhat lamely.

She laughed, a lovely tinkling sound.

"Why thank you stranger. And who might you be?"

Kori had a fascinating voice that purred with pleasure when she spoke. The girl had a strange accent, like she was used to speaking in different languages.

Victor decided to take the lead in introductions, in a loud cheesy voice. "Garfield Logan, Kori Anders. May I present mine and Gar's new roommate. Straight from the elite of Gotham City, Mr. Richard Grayson!" The group chuckled and Richard found he was liking these people more and more by the minuet.

He exchanged the customary hello and handshake with Garfield but was much happier with Kori's greeting. She placed her slim hands on his shoulders and pulled him close.

"Bonjourno" she said, kissing him on each cheek.

Kori released him to climb back up to the stage and collect her violin before disappearing into the wings. Raven followed a minuet later and the other two boys lead Richard out of the theater.

"She Italian?" he asked his new roommates. Gar chose to answer.

"Hmmm, through her mother. Learned the language from her mom and an uncle. I think a neighbor from her old place in Hells Kitchen taught her French."

"Hey", Victor interrupted," can't you two also speak Russian and Portuguese?"

Rich said, "Impressive"

"I guess" the smaller man allowed grudgingly, "We picked them up from traveling around with Gelfarius, our conductor."

The two boys were leading Richard through a maze of hallways, passing different men and woman around their own age. The other students waved or called out a greeting as they went by. Clearly Victor and Gar were very popular.

Or, at least Victor was. Garfield seemed to have an aura of secrecy around him that kept him from attaining the sort of limelight that surrounded Mr. Stone.

At last the three men found them selves at the base of a spiraling brass stairway that lead up to floors unseen and unknown.

"This is where the boy's dorms are", Victor said. "We're on the first floor now, sophomores are on the second floor, juniors on the third, and we as seniors get a three person suite on the fourth floor. Come on"

And so trey began the long trek up through three floors. On each floor they passed Richard saw halls lined with dozens of doors leading to other men's dorm rooms.

Then they emerged on a long marble corridor with only twelve doors. Victor and Gar went to the third door on the right.

"Welcome to your new home buddy", Gar said as he pushed open the door.


	3. Chapter 3 Miss Saigon

Kori hummed to herself as she bustled around her room, drying off after her quick shower. She loved this room. It was her safe haven in a world of insanity. Kori and Raven had covered an entire wall with clippings of Kori, Gar and Gelfie from random world newspapers they had picked up after a tour. There were also a few pictures of the three either from a paper of a simple Polaroid by Garfield.

Next to this mess of glue and words there was a large window seat with a very wide sill. Kori kept her three delicate white orchids there and was training them to crawl up the inside of the window frame.

There was also a four-poster bed complete with sheer white bed curtains tucked into a corner across from her vanity table and mirror. But most of the room was given over to music.

Her stand was covered in sheet music and a small collection of resin was piled on top of a stack of books containing both Mozart and music from the 12 Girls Band.

But Kori had no time for music at the minuet (a horrifying thought in her mind). She only had about fifteen minuets to dry her hair and get down to the theater. Tonight was the last night of Miss Saigon and they went on at 8:30. So naturally their director Frank Carmody insisted on his cast arriving promptly at 5:30.

And if truth be told, Kori needed those three hours to transform herself into a Vietnamese stripper. Kim was by far Kori's favorite part to date.

At last she was ready to depart for the theater down stairs and she slipped out of her bedroom into the main study that connected her room to those of Raven and their other roommate Padma.

The two women in question were presently sitting in front of the large picture windows meditating. One reason why Raven got along so well with the young Hindu immigrant was that she and Padma could meditate together.

"I'll see you two later, okay. I've got to get going," she said.

Padma and Raven snapped out of their trance-like state.

"Good luck Kori," Padma said, unfolding her body from her intricate yoga position. Padma was extremely flexible, as she was a dancer studying for the last year and a half with the Summerset Dance Company.

"Thanks guys,"

Raven called after Kori just as she reached their front door, "Give them a good show tonight. Victor is bringing that new guy, Richard Grayson."

Giggling, Kori shut the door behind her and made her way down the long spiraling stairs. Mr. Grayson was most defiantly a cause to giggle.

With his dark hair and glasses, the man emanated a sort of bad boy sexual energy that would have the ladies lining up outside his door. She would really enjoy getting to know him better.

By now the young performer had reached the theater, another of Kori's favorite Summerset places. She sneaked back through the empty audience seats, across the stage were the lighting crew was running through their cues, and into the back dressing rooms.

Kori sighed deeply at one last thought of Gar's sexy new roommate before securing her curls in a bun under her long black wig.

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Richard sat in the balcony he had been in earlier. Victor was beside him again, but Richard seriously doubted if his new friend would be paying much attention to the performance when it began. This was because of the young woman who had met them at the bottom of the stairs to their dorm.

Victor had introduced her as his girlfriend Karen Hart, but Richard somehow sensed they were much more the each other. And if anyone were to know about **_that_**, it would be Rich. Karen was a beautiful woman with kinky brown hair held up in two round buns by a pair of ivory combs. Her skin was the same chocolaty shade as Victor's. It was clear to anyone with eyes how fond they were of each other. The couple was now sitting on Richard's right, snuggling like there was no tomorrow.

He took the time before the overture started to scan the crowd below him. Rich was surprised to see that it wasn't just students who had packed the theater to the gills. Despite what Victor had said on the down from their rooms, Richard was still taken aback to see Manhattan drama critics, some very rich looking city types, and other random people from the surrounding towns and cities in a hundred mile radius of the school. Apparently the Summerset School was renowned across the eastern seaboard for its drama department.

Choosing to ignore the small giggles and moans coming from the seats beside him, Richard perused his playbill.

Garfield had told him earlier as he helped Richard unpack that he would be playing in the pit orchestra. And low-and-behold, there was Garfield Logan under Pit Orchestra: Piano 1/synthesizer.

Flipping through a few more pages Richard found the cast listings. In order of appearance there was

**_Rebecca Wilson_** as **_Gigi_**

**_Monique Alvarze_** as **_Mimi_**

**_Jonathan Mackey_** as **_the Engineer_**

**_Peter Zabndad_** as **_John, American G.I_**.

**_Aden Swift _**as**_ Chris, American G.I. _**

And… there she was!

**_Kori Anders _**as**_ Kim _**

Followed by **_Jenna Moore _**as**_ Ellen_**

But Kori as Kim? Something about the whole idea seriously turned him on. From what he could remember about Miss Saigon, Kim was a virginal Vietnamese stripper during the Vietnam War who, on her first night in the Engineer's club, fell madly in love with an American soldier.

This would be an interesting night.

Richard turned the page one last time to find the two pages where the cast and crew could make small dedications. There was the usual amount of _"Thank you Frank"_s and "_We love you Jenna"_s and Richard was almost getting bored when he came to the last dedication.

"_To my favorite Pit Monkey, _

_I love you Gar for all you've done, _

_Each show is for you, _

_Love, _

_Kori _

Richard chuckled softly to himself.

Something told him life would never be boring with Kori around.

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Meanwhile…

Kori had just finished getting into her first costume (the rest were set up in the wings for quick changes) when her director Frank Carmody burst in accompanied by his fiancée Marcus Pryce.

"That's it! It's a disaster! There is no way the show can go up tonight!"

Fear flashed through Kori. One thought rose to the surface: was someone hurt?

"What is it?" She said nervously, watching Frank pace from side to side between Kori's lighted makeup table to her antique dressing screen to the twp person settee where Marcus now lounged. "Frank what is it?" She repeated.

But all she could get out of him was, "Sheer and utter disaster! That's it, my career is over!"

"Don't worry sweetie, there is no disaster," Marcus said in his smooth, calming voice.

Marcus and Frank really were quite a pair. While Frank was over six feet tall and with the shoulders of a line backer, Marcus was more along the lines of a fairy (no pun intended). It was just that Marcus had the blond hair, cute ears and impish grin of a pixie.

That and the fact that he barely reached Frank's shoulders made the, one of the cutest couples the world had ever seen.

Frank was prone to melting down over the tinniest thing, but Marcus was always there to keep his man from going nuts. And that was exactly what needed to be done now.

Together he and Kori settled Frank down on the light blue settee. Kori returned her attention to Marcus.

"But if there is no emergency, why is he hyperventilating so?"

"Disaster," Frank muttered.

"It really is nothing to worry about," Marcus insisted, "Joyce was in the pit warming up with Garfield and Moira when her oboe reed broke. All she had to do was scamper into Gelfarius's office and pick up a new one. But you know how Frankie gets under the stress of a closing night. We should just let him mutter to himself for a while, it'll pass eventfully. On another note darling, you look wonderful. Have you ever considered dying your hair black permanently?"

They shared a laugh and admired the straight black hair she had donned earlier. The wig was remarkably realistic, no on in the audience could tell that Kori wasn't actually Asian.

Suddenly the red light bulb over Kori's door flashed. It was the twenty-minuet warning.

Frank jumped up from the couch, dragging Marcus with him.

"Pu…Pu…" Frank rambled.

Marcus took over," What my esteemed collogue here is **_trying_** to say is: be in the second studio for Puwabas in five minuets. Best of luck lovey!" With that said, the two lovebirds swept out to wait for the rest of the cast in studio two.

Kori had always been fascinated by the construction of the theater department. First there was the formal auditorium. A door in the back of the stage that was at the moment blocked by the set lead one to a narrow corridor that brought you to Gelfie's and Frank's offices, plus rehearsal studios one, two and three. Through the back of studio two there was a flight of stairs that led to the dressing rooms.

Taking a deep breath, Kori sent up a silent prayer to whichever universal deity was listening for a good performance, She then descended the stairs to join her fellow cast members for their final Saigon Puwaba.

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As the lights dimmed, the voices dimmed with them. Richard sat up a little straighter in his seat. The red insignia of Miss Saigon was projected on to the scrim that shielded the stage.

Suddenly the sound of a helicopter grew and swooped over the audience then disappeared. The overture began with the high piping of the chimes and piano, followed by the drums, trumpets and a full sized gong.

The scrim opened the dirty back room of a strip club in Saigon, 1975.

The music swelled as eight or so leggy girls in short silk robes entered. They started to sing and the show had begun.

Kori appeared after a few minuets. Richard watched in fascination s the story unfolded. American G.I.s got drunk and flirted with the bargirls in cheap bikinis and high heels. They moved in a frenzy of dance as the pit orchestra boomed beneath them.

Slowly, something new and unusual began to erupt in Richard's body, clouding his mind.

On stage Kim and her G.I. Chris were in a filthy bedroom behind the bar,

But in his mind, Richard saw a completely different set of images forming through the haze.

A tangle of sheets…

_Why does Saigon never sleep at night? _

_Why does this girl smell of orange trees? _

Sweat slicked bodies…

_How can I feel good when nothings right? _

_Why is she cool when there is no breeze? _

Emerald green eyes mirroring his own lust…

_Who is the girl in this rusty bed? _

_Why am I back in a filthy room? _

A shattering, passionate release…

_Why is her voice ringing in my head? _

_Why am I high on her cheap perfume? _

The gong sounded again and Richard was thrown back into reality.

Kim and Chris were singing _Sun and Moon. _Kori had a voice to match her inspiring music. It was a soprano that reached to the rafters and shook Richard at his core.

Soon intermission had come and Victor and Karen went into another balcony nearby where some friends of theirs had smuggled some Tía Maria in with them. They extended the invitation to Richard, but he chose to stay where he was.

Those flashes of a passionate night with Kori had him pinned to his seat. Richard had been with a countless amount of women, most of which he couldn't remember. Lucy, Angela, Dianna, the two Japanese twins, they all began to blur together after a while.

So why should the thought of sex with a woman he had barely exchanged ten words with hit him so hard?

But then Victor and Karen returned, slightly tipsy, with the smell of Tía Maria on their breath and the music resumed.

From the moment Kori Anders stepped on stage until she committed suicide in Chris's arms, their son Tam held back by Chris's wife Ellen, Richard was unable to take his eyes off her.

And it was in that moment, though he didn't know it and wouldn't for some time, that he began to fall in love.

_How in one night have we come so far?_


	4. Informational Interlude

I thought this might be a good time to throw in a list of characters and their majors.

I'll try to not add that many more character, because then everyone is confused, including

me!

Major Minor 

Kori: Music: Symphony and Composition --Theater

Richard: Art: Masters Art and Art History --Theater

Victor: Art: Masters Art and Metallurgy--

Raven: Eng: Modern Eng. Lit. and AP Euro Poetry -- Art History

Garfield: Music: Symphony and Composition --Theater (Pit orchestra)

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Aden Swift: Music: Drums --Theater

Joyce Lee: Music: Oboe --

Moira Duggan: Music: Flute --

Padma Ramakrishna: Dance: Company --Singing

Karen Hart: Dance: Company --Singing

Rebecca Wilson: Theater--

Monique****Alvarze: Theater--

Jonathan Mackey: Theater--

Peter Zabndad:****Theater****--****

Jenna Moore:****Theater**** --

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Lartan Gelfarius ------ Symphony conductor, Professor of Music and Composition

Madame Marguerite D' Loncre ------ Professor of Masters Art

Frank Carmody------ Director and Head of Theater Department

Marcus Pryce ------ Fiancée of Frank Carmody and owner of the club _Pleasures_

If a character in lacking a minor, then their minor is of no importance


	5. Chapter 4 Sunday With Kori

Ok crew, I know it' been like 2 months since my last chapter but I hope this makes up for it.

So, here it goes.

P.S. A small asterisk () above a name indicates that the correct pronunciation is included at the bottom of the story.

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A sharp hand against her cheek…

A heavy ring…

Blood pours…

The crack of a whip…

Almost a decade later a woman wakes up gasping for breath, her heart thundering over long healed wounds.

When she woke again the morning, all she could remember was the sensation of massive hands at her throat and the sound of the whip cracking through the air.

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Richard had tossed and turned all night.

After the curtain call around 11:00, Victor had ushered Richard and Karen out of the theater. Karen had wanted to talk to Kori (and secretly so did Richard). But Vic had pointed out, quite logically, that Kori and the other leads of Miss Saigon would soon be besieged be cast, crew, and admiring audience members alike.

Their chances of getting anywhere near her before midnight were next to nil.

So Richard had gone to bed without the answer to the never-ending question: what was it about Kori Anders that drew him to her?

That question had been playing over and over in his head all night. It had prevented him from sleeping, but it had also stopped him from doing anything else vaguely productive.

Around 5:30 sleep finally claimed him. The respite was short lived however

For an hour later Victor and Garfield were in the small study that connected all their rooms, pounding away on Richard's door.

"Oh you mother fucking sons of bitches", he muttered, swinging open his door. "Its 6:390 in the goddammed morning. Someone better be dyeing or dead."

Victor laughed as he barreled into Rich's half unpacked room. "Its Sunday morning. Every Sunday morning we meet the girls in the gym down stairs. We just thought you might like to join us, meet a few of the girls. "

"But why at 6:30 in the goddammed morning?"

"You're really not a morning person, are you?" Gar said. "We go this early because on Sundays most of the school likes to get in the gym. Going early lest us have some time with the girls."

"Whoa ho ho!" Rich chuckled "Is this the ladies-man side of Garfield Logan?"

Garfield blanched and scrambled from the room, muttering something about needing to find his water bottler.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"Nah man. Gar just isn't very good with women He's spent so much of his life protecting Kori that he's never really spent that much time around other women. He gets a little nervous."

"Guessing he's still… ya know…a virgin?" Richard asked as he dug through a box of partially unpacked clothes, finally emerging withy sweat pants and an old tight T-shirt.

"You hit the nail on the head. I keep telling him he should pick up some little chick when he's down in Manhattan. I mean a guy with his good looks and that musical talent should have no problem shacking up. But he just shakes his head and goes off to practice whenever Kori and I start in on him."

"So he and Kori aren't dating?" Richard asked, trying to keep the urgency out of his voice.

"Hell no! Their friendship is to strong else." Richard gave a mental sigh of relief " Gar's always talking about the three stages of a relationship. The first is friendship. The second is like what I have with Karen, god love her, and the third is a universal bond that's beyond sex and dating. I think something happened to them when they were younger that moved them straight from first to third, completely bypassing two. I don't know what happened, but I know he would die for her."

Vic then left Richard to dress and mull over his last words.

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The surface of the pool was smooth as glass and just as clear. Kori could see straight to the bottom.

Her footsteps plopped wetly when she walked across the tile floor to the six-foot springboard.

Kori climbed up the latter, assumed the position and took a deep, shuddering breath before launching herself into the pool.

The calm smoothness of the water shattered, just as Kori's world had so often been shattered.

Long strokes brought her to the end of the pool. She flipped over, pushed off the wall with her legs, and began the laps again.

She had dreamed the dream again last night. It was so real sometimes that she could still fell his hands at her throat.

Turn. Flip. Push off the wall again.

Horrifying memories she tried to push down into the darkest recesses of her mind came to light only during sleep. Sometimes she was afraid to sleep; she didn't have William or Nancy anymore. When it got so bad, Kori would go days, once even a week without sleep. Strangely enough, that was when Kori was at the height of her creativity.

It was during one of he sleep deprived periods that she had written most of Dolore Imperdonabile, a tribute to her beautiful mother Julianna. Julianna Anders had known a true Dolore Imperdonabile.

It was Italian for unforgivable pain. And that was what the two of them had known at the hands of Kori's father, Ilya Kordreitski

Turn. Flip. Push.

Ilya had adored Kori's mother, worshipped the ground Julianna walked on.

But only when he was sober.

The nights he returned to their apartment drunk on cheap liquor were some of the worst in Kori's memory. And they were all the same.

The door would bang open and Ilya would stagger drunkenly in. He would drag Julianna from her bed and beat her senseless.

Turn. Flip. Push.

Kori could remember it as far back as four years old. Maybe that was when it all really began. She didn't know. All she did know was that she had spent five years hiding in the corner, watching as her mother died a slow, agonizing death.

Turn. Flip.

Julianna never once spoke during the beatings, never so much as whimpered. The one time she did it only made things worse. It was the first time Ilya brought out the whip. She had turned over on to her back, a long gash in her hair bleed into her eyes

"_You are breaking my heart," _She whispered

After that only the crack of the whip could be heard.

Turn. Flip.

Following that night Julianna only ever spoke when her husband was out of the apartment. The last thing she said to her daughter was _"…as soon as you can, get out of here. Run as far as you can and never let him find you," _she had whispered in Italian_. "Take this to remember me. Remember our dolore " _Julianna slipped a necklaceoff her neck and wrapped her daughter's small hand around it. It was her mother's silver eternity sign suspended on a matching chain.

Turn.

Did she know? Did Julianna somehow know that their apartment would go up in flames and that she would be inside?

Turn.

Turn.

Turning.

Turning, always turning and running away.

Running from the dreams.

From the memories.

Running from the horror that had been her father, Ilya Kordreitski.

The apartment had burned, taking Julianna with. And in all the hells of hells Ilya had managed to escape.

But Kori couldn't escape. She would never truly be free of him.

The glint of the knife flashed behind her eyes. She gasped and her mouth filled with water.

She began to sink.

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Raven watched her form in the gym's long mirror as she and Padma went through their usual morning Sun Salutation yoga routine: …swing down onto stomach, hands together, arms up, pull up into Cobra and down…

After a night of candle lit-horror story reading she was feeling supremely relaxed.

At least, that was until Victor and Garfield entered with their new roommate.

Victor headed straight to Karen to kiss her good morning where she worked on the treadmill. Karen's other two roommates, Moira and Becca, were in the gym as well.

Raven had never liked Becca Wilson. _Moira_ was a lovely young woman. But there was something about Becca that just screamed whore, and it rubbed Raven the wrong way.

At five foot seven, Becca had the body of an Amazon, with long legs and glistening blond hair pulled into a pony tail And at the moment her perfect cupids lips were twisted into a calculating pout as she watched Richard's back retreating into the weight room with Garfield.

That pout was what had Raven so unnerved: she had seen it before and it never meant anything good.

Finally Victor went off to join his friends in some serious weight lifting, shutting the door to the weight room behind him. Becca was the first to speak.

"Oh my god! Do you girls know who that was!" She said excitedly from the mat where she and Moira were doing crunches.

"Karen laughed, "Only the best lover I ever had "

"Not Victor you twit. That new guy!"

"Oh, you mean Richard?" Karen asked.

"You know him?" Becca was sitting up now. "Like you've spoken to him and stuff?"

"Yeah. Vic and I took him to seem Miss Saigon last night. But Raven was the one who had to lead him around all day yesterday. Ask her what he's like."

That was exactly what Raven had feared. The swooping of the vultures. Immediately Becca turned to face Raven on her and Padma's mat, a keen look in her eyes.

"You did! What's he like? I've heard he's really sexy."

This was too much. With an exasperated snort, Raven turned her full attention on Becca.

"You obviously know, and want to know, more than I do. So why don't you just back up and enlighten the rest of the group with out me."

Becca drew back as first shock then loathing crossed her face.

"Hey, no need to get your panties in a twist. I just know of what he does. I thought maybe you could tell us what he's like. Excuse me for being curious."

"And what is it that he does exactly?" Padma asked enthusiastically. Raven rolled her eyes. Much as she cared about Parma, the woman was a shameless gossip.

Becca however was in her element.

"Alright, so last night Moira was warming up in the pit with Garfield before the show when he mentioned that he and Vic have a new roommate. Richard Grayson."

Moira nodded earnestly.

"After the show Moira told Karen about it and when I finally got back to out room they told me. Now, something about his name struck home with me, so I called my cousin Lanna in Gotham City last night, ya know it was only like 10:00 out where she is in California. Anyway, she filled me I."

Raven tried to block it all out; she didn't need to listen to this crap.

But Becca wasn't finished "Apparently our Mr. Grayson is one of Gotham's most notorious play boys. Lanna says he's the restless type, jumps from woman to woman. And he's loaded! The adopted heir of Gotham's richest business tycoon, I forget his name", she waved her hand unconcernedly.

"How like her, Raven thought in disgust, "to forget anything that doesn't have top do with her getting laid."

"Needless to say", Becca continued," I've got dibs on this one."

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At the moment the object of Becca Wilson's desires was working up a sweat in the weight room. He could hit 340lbs. on the le press with no problem.

This gave Richard plenty of time to listen and laugh as Vic continued to rib Gar about his dilemma with women.

"I just don't get you man," Victor said between grunts as he bench pressed 370lbs. Gar spotted him from behind. "Your talented, good-looking and, according to Kori, _vaguely_ charming. I don't get you."

Garfield just shook his head. But Victor wouldn't be put off.

"Take now for instance. There is a room full of smart, beautiful women on the other side of that door. You would have no problem getting with anyone of them. Well, except Karen obviously. And Padma. She says she's arranged to marry a guy back in New Delhi. And," he laughed, "obviously not Raven. I mean, I love Rae like a sister, but I just can't see her in a relationship."

Something almost like sorrow tightened Garfield's face.

"Drop it, ok Vic?" he muttered.

"Ok".

The three continued to work out in silence for a few minuets more before Vic went to join Karen on a treadmill.

Richard was still curious as to Gar's female predicament He decided to take their isolation for granted.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but Vic's right, sort of. Why **don't** you get with one of the women here? Or anywhere for that matter. Victor's list only left you with those two girls, Becca and Moira. And, uh, I don't know what you feel towards them but Moira looks a little dull and the other one seems to take tramp to a new level."

Gar chuckled dimly." Your right in that." He sighed. "It's not that I don't find some of the women here attractive. Believe me, I do. It's just that…ya see it's kinda…ughhhhhhhhhhhh" he groaned, "Just forget it."

But Richard was beginning to understand.

"There's someone already, isn't there?" he asked.

Garfield sighed and straddled the bench Victor had been working on earlier, resting his arms on the bar bell and his head on those arms.

"Yeah. Yeah there is."

"So why don't you **do** something about it?"

"Because I don't know how, ok! I've never met anyone like her before and I don't know what to do. ."

"Well why don't you tell me who it is and we can work from there."

Gar blanched, "Hell no!"

"Tell me."

"No!"

"Tell me."

"No!"

"Tell me."

"No!"

"Tell me."

"No!"

"Tell me."

"Fine, ok! Just shut up! It's," he paused before going on resignedly "It's… Raven."

"Raven!"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Yes it's Raven. What can I say; I'm attracted to her. She's smart, talented, interesting and mysterious at the same time." There was a far off look in Gar's eyes now and Rich seriously doubted Gar knew he was still in the room. "And she's beautiful in a way no woman has ever been."

"What do you mean?" Richard asked softly.

"Well, keep in mind that I grew up with Kori, but when Raven smiles she is the most beautiful creature I've ever seen"

"Yeah, about that. I haven't known her that long but I've yet to see her smile."

"I've only seen it once but it was wonderful. Kori was giving a benefit concert for breast cancer patients in Boston last Christmas. We were all there. Vic with Karen, Madame D' Loncre with Geflie, and Raven and I just came alone. She was sitting on my left and just as Kori went into the Debussy Concerto I looked over at Raven. Her head was tipped back, her eyes were shut, and there was this little smile on her lips. Suddenly it was like there was this tiny light inside her, she was practically glowing. That's when I first realized just how beautiful she is."

Richard allowed for fifteen seconds of reminiscing time before pushing onward.

"Does Kori know?" he asked.

"About Raven? No. No one knows. I don't know why I told you."

"Neither do I. I wish I could help you out but I barley know the girl. Hey…uh… where's Kori, I wanted to congratulate her on her performance last night." _Liar! Like it was Kori's acting that had kept him up all night! _

"Oh, she's probably down in the pool. Kori likes to swim in the mornings, says it gives her time to think." Garfield indicated a door opposite for the one they had entered through. Richard bade his companion goodbye and passed through the door to the pool.

He found himself at the top of a flight of stairs leading down through a poorly lit tunnel with the occasional twist or turn. After five minutes of walking he was able to smell chlorine and hear, quite clearly, the sounds of a single person swimming.

Okay, this was it. He could do this.

What was there to be nervous about? Richard had been with countless women, so where was this sudden nervousness coming from.

He turned the last corner and emerged on a brightly it area with a half Olympic size pool. There was set of bleachers on each side of the door way and on the bottom step of the set to Rich's right there were two flip-flops, an oversized tee-shirt, a pair of women's lacrosse shorts, and a towel.

He looked across the water but didn't see her. The he looked again, beneath the surface.

Oh dear God!

She was drowning. But it didn't look like she was struggling; her body just sank like she was falling off a building.

Without stopping to think about what he was doing, Richard ripped of his shirt, shoes and sweatpants and, taking a running leap, dove into the pool.

Richard shot through the water like a torpedo and reached the unconscious woman in a few seconds. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled them both back to the surface. It only took him about eight seconds but the trip seemed so much longer. One thought penetrated Richard's hazy brain: _thank God Bruce had me take those lifeguard courses at the beach. _

He looked to the surface. It was so close, yet so far.

Just when Richard thought his lungs would burst their heads broke through the surface and he began gulping air like a fish out of water. But Kori still wasn't breathing.

Panting, he pulled the two of them over to the side of the pool. Richard propped her limp body against the deck body and started pumping on her chest through her black one-piece suit.

One, two, three.

He parted her mouth and exhaled forcefully into her lungs.

Pump one, two, three.

Kori's eyes snapped open and she coughed, water spurting from her mouth. Richard helped her to sit up on the edge of the pool deck before hoisting himself up beside her.

It was then that he noticed he was dressed only in his boxers. Boxers that were at that moment soaked through and stuck to his body. Thankfully Kori was to busy expelling water form ser lungs to notice.

"Thanks" she wheezed.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes more. The only sound in the pool area was that of their labored breathing.

Finally Richard regained his breath and turned to the woman beside him. Even with her hair plastered to her body and that smooth skin blanched a strange shade of gray, Kori was undeniably beautiful.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah", her breathing was still heavy and she hadn't taken her eyes off the water.

"C'mon, your probably in shock. Let's get you away from the pool.

She nodded and together they moved back to sit on the bleacher.

"What happened out there?" Richard said.

"I was doing laps when I suddenly blacked out. Next thing I know, you are performing CPR on my chest." She paused "Thank you for that by the way."

Rich laughed softly, "No problem. I don't think we were ever properly introduced. I'm Richard Grayson, Gar's new roommate." He extended his hand and she shook it. Kori's grip was surprisingly strong for hands so slim.

"Yes, Garfield spoke most highly of you last night after the show. He is a very good judge of character and if he enjoys your company, I think everyone will."

Richard glowed under her praise.

"You must be quite a strong swimmer," she continued, "to have pulled he from the pool like that. We should race some time."

"Sure, maybe. By the way, I saw your performance last night; you were spectacular.

It was Kori's turn to blush.

"Thank you. We began rehearsing at the end of last year. That is why we were able to open a few weeks into term. That was three weeks ago, more or less."

"Well it was very impressive. You have a beautiful voice."

Kori's eyes glowed "I got it from my mother. She was an Italian opera star. A true p_rima donna_ and part of the first international cast of La Traviata." She sighed contentedly, as though remembering something very fine and precious. "They traveled through Italy, Greece, France, Russia, Spain, Portugal, all before coming to America, where she met my father." Something akin to sorrow passed behind Kori's sparkling emerald eyes. But whatever troubled her was quickly pushed down and she moved on with their conversation. "So Raven has told me that you are to minor in theater as well?"

Rickard chuckled in an embarrassed way. "Uh, yeah, I guess."

'Are you going to audition for The Phantom of the Opera? It is our next production."

"Oh, well…I uh…I don't know." Richard said, trying to dodge the question that had been- plaguing him since he first realized he would have to minor in theater. "I've never acted before so maybe I could do something else to get credit in that class.

"Can you play an instrument?" she asked

"No."

"Do you know how to run a 100 cue lighting board?"

"No."

"Can you design and build a full set of scenery?"

"I'm sure I could learn…"

But she cut him off, " No they only want people who already know what they are doing. We start rehearsals soon and none of the separate departments have time to teach newbies. So if that gets rid of Pit Orchestra, Lighting Crew and Set/Costume Design, the only other division of the theater department is the actual cast"

Richard was starting to get scared, this girl was hell bent on having him perform in an opera. Shaken, he jumped up and scuttled over to where he had discarded his clothes near the door.

"I can't act", he protested flatly as he pulled on his sweat pants. By now Kori had moved to stand beside Richard and was also donning her own clothes.

"Frank isn't to picky about acting," she said. "He always says in it better to have a singer than an actor because acting can be taught but singing comes from inside. So, can you sing?"

But Richard had had enough of her dodgy questions.

"Why are you so insistent that I should be part of this play?"

"Because I think you would be perfect as the Phantom," she stated simply.

"How the hell could you make that judgment you don't even know me! Who's to say I wouldn't completely fuck in up!"

She smiled and there was a knowing look in her eyes, a wisdom that surpassed her years. "I can see it in you're eyes."

"What!" he yelped. Richard's hand flew to his face to find that his dark sunglasses had vanished somewhere between diving into the pool and pulling Kori out again. She laughed at the look of raw astonishment on her companion's face.

Obviously, Richard Grayson hated to be without his sunglasses almost as much as Kori hated to be without her mother's necklace. She didn't know why though, his eyes were such an astounding shade of blue, so dark they were practically black.

"I can see the passion and pain of the Phantom in you eyes."

Kori was very close now and she grazed a finger down Richard's rough, stubbly face. Goddammit! Why hadn't he bothered to shave that morning?

"There are only two other men in mind for the role of the Phantom: Aden Swift and Jonathan Mackey. I know both of them very well and I can say with the utmost certainty that neither of them could portray what I see in your eyes right now." She finished softly.

Richard slipped a hand under Kori's elbow, nudging her closer. How had he never noticed before just how big her eyes were?

"Torment" she said plainly, "There is something inside of you, some…memory that tears you up when you dwell on it.

Instantly, anger flared up inside Richard and he pushed the girl away.

"You don't know what you're talking about," he barked hoarsely.

"Oh yes I do, why else would you be so upset right now?"

"I'm not upset!" Richard threw his arms out as his voice echoed around the room in anger.

"Yes you are. I can read you like a book Mr. Grayson, and whatever it is you are holding inside is slowly killing you."

How dare she be so calm!

"Hmm, oh yeah? Well if I'm such a fuckin' open book, tell me something about myself, huh, do that!"

Kori took a deep breath and a step back, crossing her arms over her chest before saying, "You are a loner. You hate commitment because you fear the pain failure in that commitment might bring." She paused, "and you feel like you once failed someone, someone very dear to your heart."

Richard's anger slowly abated and he raked a hand through his hair, now slightly embarrassed by his outburst.

"Alright, ok. Maybe you're a little more perceptive than most people, but that doesn't mean I should audition for this thing. I don't even know the music for Christ's sake!"

Kori laughed lightly and grasped Richard's hand, pulling him back up the stairs with her as she said, "But I can teach you. Now, I know it's a streachbut you would have to sing fro Frank Carmody today if we have any hope of you getting the part over Aden or John."

"We what's all this **we** stuff? I haven't agreed to anything yet."

But Richard knew this was a lie. Kori had pulled him in with one blink of those big green eyes and he was to far gone to back out now.

The sound of her beautiful tinkling laugh filled the tunnel as they reached the top of the staircase.

"But you will. It's like I said, I can teach you. After breakfast meet me in Studio two behind the auditorium. Just ask one of the boys and they should point you in the right direction."

Kori had turned to push through the door back into the weight room when suddenly she turned back to Richard, a worried expression on her face.

"Um… Richard, might I ask something of you?"

"Sure anything"

Kori took both of Richard's large, rough hands in her own and a shock ran up his arms.

Did she feel it too? It was hard to tell through the clouds that masked her features.

"Would you please not tell Gar about my blackout in the pool? I don't want him to worry anymore. Oh, and here," she pulled Richard's glasses out of a back pocket. "I found them by the door when you were changing "

And then she was gone, passing through the door in one swish of crimson hair, leaving Richard feeling more bewildered than at any other time in his life.

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Raven sank into her chair with a small aggravated groan. She would have much preferred to take her breakfast with just Kori and Padma. Maybe Garfield, Richard Victor and Karen. But Kori had dashed through the gym earlier maintaining that she needed to was the chlorine out of her hair and make a phone call, promising to meet up with the others for lunch. There was something very strange about the whole situation.

Then, to top it all off, Garfield and Richard had returned to the main gym and Becca took upon herself to insist that the entire group have breakfast together. Which was exactly why Raven was now wedged between Moira and Becca, who had hung on to Richard Grayson all the way from the gym and then shamelessly maneuvered it so that she had the new man all to herself at the circular table.

The guileless little flirt was turning the old Wilson Charm up to full blast. But, oddly enough, it didn't seem to be having its usual effect. Which if you thought about it hard enough wasn't that surprising.

Richard Grayson was probably used to women with a brain behind the beauty. Women like Padma or Kori.

But maybe not…

If Becca's cousin in Gotham was right and Richard **was** the "restless type" who liked to jump from woman to woman, maybe girls like Becca Wilson **were** more to his favor.

"Forget it Raven," she thought dully, "It's non of you're business who he's banging anyway."

Raven returned her attention to her breakfast of herbal tea, fruit salad and yogurt, finding it far more interesting to again marvel at the beauty of the old summerset manor. The room the school now took all of its meals in had once been the ballroom.

Sunlight streamed through the tall windows and bounced off the gleaming hardwood floors, which were strewn with about seventy small circular tables, each covered in the white cloths, shining silver and crystal left over from the days when this room was still used for elegant parties.

It was easy for Raven to imagine the room as it must have been some hundred-odd years ago.

The tables would have vanished to be replaced by gilt chairs with over padded seats. The huge crystal chandelier that hung in the center of the room and now ran on electricity would be lit with a thousand tiny candles, each in its own separate dish to keep melting wax off the milling guests below.

And the guests! Raven could see them all perfectly in her mind's eye.

Beautiful women in sweeping, bustled silk gowns and glittering jewels, hair piled atop their heads in intricate twists and chignons. Long gloves covered bare arms. The men would all be in practically matching black coats, white shirts and silk cravats. Gold cuff links shined at their wrists.

Couples swirled across the floor in time to the string quartet playing in the corner. Laughter bubbled like the champagne men garnered for the young women trying desperately to appear grown up.

It was all so lovely, and so fake. The entire night was nothing more than a façade. A beautiful, glittering façade.

And Raven loved it.

This was just the idea she was looking for to project her new novel. The inspiration was so hot that Raven immediately whipped out the tiny pocket notebook she carried with her everywhere and scribbled down the entire scene that had formed in her mind.

Just then Becca's high-pitched, man hunting laugh floated around the table, Raven getting the worst of it as she was seated directly to the left of the irritating source.

Raven sighed and put her little book away. It was pointless to try and create something as beautiful as the written word when some one so ugly of spirit sat beside her. Raven let her gaze sweep around the table, taking in her companions.

To her left sat Moira Duggan, brilliant red hair cut boyishly short, followed by Padma, then Karen and Victor who were feeding each other pieces of fruit. Past Victor and directly across from Raven there was Garfield with his own plate of pancakes. Next to him was Richard, valiantly trying to escape the claws of the dreaded Becca Monster.

But the last three men caught Raven's attention and held it.

She never thought that a carnivorous metallurgist (Victor), a vegan musician (Gar) and wealthy playboy could mesh, let alone like each other. But that was what seemed to be happening. Not only did it seem possible for them to live together, but they actually appeared to be becoming fast friends.

Suddenly Raven felt a strange presence, a strange energy, over her body. She snapped her head in the direction of the energy to find her gaze caught by a pair of dark, cynical eyes. Profoundly old, profoundly weary as if they had long ago seen everything and found value in nothing.

They were the forest green eyes of Garfield Logan

Time hung suspended in that moment. Both were dead the chatter around them. Neither heard Becca's continual attempts to garner Richard's attention, or Padma trying to teach Karen a prayer-song in Hindi, or even Vic's booming laugh at that same song.

All that mattered in the world were those two sorrowful eyes and the spell they cast around her.

At least, that was until Garfield opened his and spoke her name.

"Raven"

It was a whisper on the wind. It caressed her skin, both pleasing and frightening at the same time. Fear won out and she jumped up from the table, jostling the table as she went.

"Um…I've gotta ….I have some…uh…letters to finish. Bye," she stammered to the group at large, none of which took any notice with the obvious exception of Garfield who rose slightly out of his chair.

"Raven!" he called after her, but the dark girl had already past through the tall oak doors.

Four floors up Raven raced through her study, knocking into the small leather couch as she went, and locked her bedroom door tight behind her. Panting, she slumped down with her back against the door and cradled her head in her arms.

"What the bloody hell was that?" she thought. What was that amazing connection that had unexpectedly flared up in the space of one glance?

"This is stupid," she muttered.

She barley knew Gar Logan and suddenly she was imagining up some ethereal bond? She was really losing it.

Raven pushed herself off the floor and moved around her dark room, taking in the black lace shroud over the window, the mahogany vanity and chair, and the bed covered in a black Egyptian cotton coverlet strewn with blood red silk pillows.

A trunk was set at the foot of her bed and it was now the object of her attention. She knelt before it and removed a box of stationary, an incense tray, and a tin cylinder full of Chinese Rain incense. Raven settled before her mirror, lit the incense stick and removed a half finished letter to her mother in Berlin.

It hadn't been a complete lie when she announced that she had a letter to finish. Te only problem remaining was that Raven didn't know **how** to finish the letter.

Frustrated, Raven slammed down her pen and stared at the wall opposite where she had written Jane Yolen's poem Vampire in large spiky letters.

_We stalk the dark, _

_Live in the flood. _

_We take the madness _

_In the blood _

_A moment's prick, _

_A minute's pain _

_And then we live _

_To love again _

_Drink the night. _

_Rue the day. _

_We hear the beat _

_Beneath the breast. _

_We sip the wine _

_That fills the chest. _

_A moment's prick, _

_A minute's pain _

_Our living is not _

_Just in vain _

_Drink the night. _

_Rue the day. _

_We don not shirk, _

_From blood's dark feast._

_We take the man, _

_We leave the beast _

_A moment's prick, _

_A minute's pain _

_We live to love, _

_To live again_

_Drink the night. _

_Rue the day. _

Raven had always loved that poem; it spoke to her soul.

Normally.

But now Rave thought it might take more that good incense and a favorite poem to get her through this particular letter.

"Well," she thought sourly, "It's not like there is much of a point to writing anything of importance anyway."

She scribbled out a casual goodbye, trusting that the nuns at the Dalldorf Asylum would read Raven's letter to her mother during one of Arella Roth's more lucid periods.

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Across the building, Garfield was pounding his way through _Orpheus in the Underworld_ on his keyboard in the study. A Yamaha Mini was a far cry for m a grand piano but Gar knew (as he and Gelfarius had tried) that it was impossible to get a real piano up the dormitory stairs. So they worked with what they had.

But this fact was not at the bottom of Garfield's mental list of grievances. Front and center was the knowledge that with one look he had frightened off the woman of his dreams.

Why had he said her name and broken the connection between them?

Why had he let Raven see so much of the pain hidden behind his eyes?

Suddenly Richard emerged from his own bedroom in a fresh change of clothes: tight, worn jeans and long sleeved black shirt.

"So, how do I look?" he asked, readjusting his dark sunglasses.

"Fine why", Garfield flopped back in his chair.

"No reason. I'm just going to meet up with Kori. By the way, where's this Studio Two I've heard so much about?"

Suspicion crept into Garfield's mind and his overwhelming instinct to protect Kori swung into action. He rose from his chair at the keyboard, crossing his arms before saying, "Why?"

"Why do I need to know? Because I have neither the knowledge of its location nor the desire to get lost on the way and I was wondering if you would be so kind as to direct me" Now Richard was just being an ass on purpose.

"That not what I meant. Look, cut the crap. Why are you meeting Kori in the studio? You barley know her."

"Whoa, hold on there Kimusabi." Richard said, raising his hands before him in a placatory fashion. "It's not what you think. She just offered to help me with a little theater relater issue. That's all, so pull in your claws buddy."

Garfield was immediately embarrassed by his outburst, though not enough to back down.

"Hey, I'm sorry man. It's just that with Kori…it's kind of…" he sighed tiredly. "Look you have to understand something about her. She's naturally a very affectionate woman and I don't want you to read too much into that general sweetness. I overheard all about your reputation with women from Karen at breakfast and I really don't want to see Kori get hurt. I like you and all but if push comes to shove and you've hurt her, I'll kill you."

Richard stood stunned for a moment as he took it all in. Having his notorious past thrown in his face like that had been a bit of a shock. How the hell had anyone here found out about it? And how had it spread so fast?

Whatever, that wasn't his problem right now. Though no doubt it would be soon. But right now all that mattered was that he not be late to meet Kori.

It was only after Richard insisted vehemently that his interest in Kori was strictly platonic (yeah right) that Garfield grudgingly told his roommate how to get to Studio Two.

And so Richard set off in elated mood despite the fact that because of his tangled past, his future was about to become **very** complicated.

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Kori sat at the ebony grand piano but didn't play. She had already warmed up and looked through the music Richard would be singing and neither act had calmed her frazzled nerves.

Instead, she had hooked her Ipod into a jack at the back of the studio's stereo to let O.A.R.'s _Sunday Bloody Sunday_ pound around the room.

Studio Two was a pleasant, sparse room with stained-hardwood floors, and simple whiter curtains fluttering in the large open windows. Besides the piano there was the low cabinet on which the stereo rested. Bookshelves full of resin, cork oil, cleaning rods, sheet music, and electric tuners limned the walls. Between two of the shelves was the door that lead to the dressing rooms.

Kori rose from the padded piano bench and smoothed her hands over her calf-length black silk duster gown, striding across the floor to the stereo, loving the click of her sexy black stilettos on the wood.

Why was she so nervous? She was just helping out a new friend. Albeit, that friend was drop dead gorgeous with a body to die for, but Kori could work around that fact.

Well, she could try.

Kori picked up her lime green Ipod and flipped it over so that she could see the back where she had once drawn a small pink breast cancer ribbon. Kori traced her thumb over the ting drawing, trying to repress sorrowful memories of William and Nancy Logan.

She blinked back two tears and toggled around until she found _That Was a Crazy Game_ of Poker, a song guaranteed to pull her out of any funk.

And sure enough, just as she heard distant footsteps in the hallway, Kori's self-confidence was right up where it usually was.

"Well who'd have thought it," came Richard Grayson's voice from where he stood in the doorway behind her. "The world renown violinist likes O.A.R."

Kori turned to face her dark companion and felt a squirm of pleasure in her stomach when Richard' eyes widened. His gaze swept quickly from toe to top, lingering only for a second on her chest. Kori knew she looked stunning.

Though she would never admit it she had been thinking about Richard when she had chosen her wardrobe that morning.

"What can I say? I like to keep people guessing," she smiled mysteriously. "Well, we had better get started, hadn't we?" she walked over to the piano bench and gestured at Richard to join her.

"I still can't believe I let you talk me into doing this," he grumbled as he sat beside he. Kori breathed in his scent, a heady mixture of soap, Old Spice, and something vaguely musky.

Kori cleared her throat and scrambled with her music as she attempted to gather her lost wits. "I called Frank this morning after I left you and asked him about your situation. He told me to have _All I Ask of You_ ready, which is good, because that means he was taking me seriously when I said you really wanted to do this."

"You know, it isn't good to lie to an adult like that." He chided playfully before asking, "but why is that a good thing?"

Because _All I Ask of You _is the same song Aden and John will be singing for their callbacks in a little while and it also means that you won't have to go up there alone because I'll be singing for Christine."

"Wait, what?"

"Well it's like I told you, the original auditions were about a week and a half ago. Today Frank is just calling back John and Aden for the parts of Raul and the Phantom. There hasn't been an official list put out yet, but I was cast as Christine from the start." But I'm not the only one," she was quick to add. "Monique Alvarze was cast a Meg, Jenna Moore is Carlotta and Peter Zabndad is Mousier Firmin. Just… you know…none of them know that yet. I was only told because Frank needs to see how the boys would sound with me as Raul or the Phantom."

"I guess it wont be so bad if you up there with me," Richard said, interrupting what was quickly becoming nervous prattle. He smiled and Kori blushed. What was it about his smile? Its sudden intimacy. It went to the brain like strong wine.

Acting on a sudden whim, Richard reached out and wrapped one of Kori's loose red curls around his finger, tucking it behind her ear.

Kori was far to stunned t and pleased by this movement to notice that Richard's eyes were now trained intently on her ears. His fingers brushed the earrings that dangled there

"Those are some beautiful earrings," he said in a low, husky voice.

She was wearing her Penny Preville 18k white gold and diamond chandelier earrings.

"Thank you," she couldn't take her eyes off this throat, where a heavy pulse pounded." They were a gift from the royal family of Spain. Gar and I played at Prince Philippe's wedding last spring."

At the mention of Garfield, Richard's senses came rushing back and he quickly pulled away from Kori. Unfortunately he pulled back too fast and his fingers were caught in her hair. By the time the two were untangled, the mood was completely shot and it was back to business.

Kori said, "So like I was saying, this the music and we only have about two and a half hours to get ready because the callbacks are right before lunch and it's already nine o'clock and the other two will be here around 11:30 to warm up with me and I…I…"

She was quickly spinning off into a universe of paranoia and if Richard didn't take control soon there might be no return. He placed his hands on her slim shoulders and shook her slightly, laughing all the while (she really was pretty cute when she was going nuts.)

"Kori, Kori! It's okay, we can do this. Just take a few deep breaths and focus. It's okay."

Calmness replaced the frenzied look on Kori's lively features and Richard resignedly removed his hands from her shoulders.

"Of course you are right. Thank you Richard, you are truly a good friend. Come, let us get to work."

And so they did. Kori was able to pick out the tune to _All I Ask of You _with ease. She admitted shamelessly that she would **never** be as Garfield, but at least she could carry a tune.

The same couldn't be said for Richard.

As most of his singing to date had been restricted to the shower, it was of no great surprise that his first attempt at Andrew Lloyd Webber's haunting love song came out, to be put nicely, like crap.

"No! No! No! You are not listing to the music Richard!" in her agitation Kori's Italian accent thickened." This as a ballad of undying love. Do you even know what this play is about?"

"Hey don't get angry at me! This whole thing was you idea. All I can remember is that some love-crazed stalker is running around under an opera house in France with a serious lust issue for some woman. Like a French _Fatal Attraction_ in reverse."

She sighed deeply; this was not time to joke. "It is a tale of passion and jealousy and unrequited love. You must sing with the brilliance of the Phantom but also with the love of the Vicomte Raul. You must feel the ardor of the French people in your heart. I can hear power in your voice when you speak, now you must bring that power to the music and make it your own. Always remember to breath deeply and sing from the very bottom of your diaphragm. Now, lets try that again."

Trying to keep all of her inspiring speech in, mind **and** sing with all his might was no easy feat, but by the fourth attempt both Kori and Richard could hear the difference.

His voice had begun to soar and thunder as Kori had hoped for. And for the first time when it came her turn to join in the duet, she actually did instead of stopping and going back to the beginning as they had before.

_Say you love me_

_every_

_waking moment,_

_turn my head_

_with talk of summertime . . ._

_Say you need me_

_with you,_

_now and always . . ._

_promise me that all_

_you say is true -_

_that's all I ask_

_of you . . . _

They continued to switch on and off as the song required until they arrived at the part sang in unison.

_Share each day with_

_me, each_

_night, each morning . . ._

_Kori: _

_Say you love me . . ._

_Richard:_

_You know I do . . ._

_Both:_

_Love me -_

_that's all I ask_

_of you . . . _

_Anywhere you go_

_let me go too . . ._

_Love me -_

_that's all I ask_

_of you. ._

Their voices melded beautifully, creating something so perfectly pure that it gave them both chills.

"What do you think?" he asked hesitantly.

She turned to him completely and Richard was once again washed in the light of her stunning smile.

"I don't think the others stand a chance." Richard grinned. "I knew if we could find your voice you would be wonderful."

"I'll say," said a voice from behind them. Both turned to see a man roughly the size of a football player.

"Frank! Perfect, you're' here," Kori said, bouncing up from t the bench and practically skipping to the man to kiss once on each cheek. "This is the man I was telling you about on the phone this morning. Richard Grayson, I would like you to meet Frank Carmody, our director and resident sociopath."

The three laughed and Richards shook hands with Frank. The man had a surprisingly honest smile and wasn't much taller than Richard himself. But, as Richard was 6'3, this was saying something.

"I heard you two finish, it was lovely. Your voices work very well together" Kori beamed at Richard and to his horror found he blushed. Carmody was still speaking. "But I'd better reserve judgment until the other two arrive. Oh, by the way Kori, Marcus sends his love and says you're a goddess."

Kori giggled, "Well, tell him the same from me."

Suddenly Richard could hear footfalls in the hallway behind them and, poking his head around the doorjamb saw two young men about his age walking side by side deep in conversation. Kori slipped her head around the door too and exclaimed, "John! Aden. We can get started now."

The man on the left looked up at the name 'John'. He was strongly built (both men were) though shorter than his companion. There was a slightly oriental cast to his features. Perhaps one of his parents was from south Asia. His spiked- up bleach blond hair was tipped in red and his short-sleeved shirt reveled the Chinese sign for tranquility tattooed on his right bicep.

The other teenager who must have been Aden looked like he had been snatched off a beach some where in the Mediterranean . Olive skin and glossy black made him the epitome of Grecian gook looks, male beauty marred only by a slight frown twisting his lips. Aden's dark eyes were trained on Kori with the same repressed lust Richard felt towards her.

Obviously Garfield had gotten to Aden too.

"Ok boys and girls," Carmody said, "Let's get this show on the road. We only have about thirty minutes top get through three groups so-"

But Aden cut him off.

"Three? What are you talking about Carmody? Its just me and John."

"Not any more Mr. Swift. I'd like you and John to meet Raymond Graystone."

"Richard Grayson!" Kori and Richard said in unison. They laughed and shared a shy glance.

For some reason Aden glowered even more then he gad upon his arrival.

"_Man, what bug crawled up his ass and died?"_ Richard thought wryly.

"Right, right, sorry," Frank said. "The main point is that there are now three of you going for two parts, which means one of you might be considered for the role of André. It all depends. So, why don't you three boys warm up and we'll get started. Could I talk to you for a minuet?"

"Sure"

They walked into the hall and shut the door firmly behind them.

"Alright sweetie, what's going on?"

Kori had to fight the urge to laugh at Frank's serious demeanor when only the night before he had sat in her dressing room to have a mental breakdown over a broken reed.

"What do you mean?" She asked, suppressing a giggle.

"I mean what's the deal with dragging out that Grayson boy? I've got all the actors I could ever need and I've yet to have two students as talented as John and Aden." He paused as comprehension dawned behind his brown eyes. "Is this about Aden? I've seen the way he looks at you. Is he the reason you pulled Grayson into this mess?"

Kori gnawed on her lip and tried to sort her mangled reasoning into words.

"I guess, **maybe, **I did talk him into this because of Aden. I guess part of me just couldn't stand a repeat of Miss Saigon. All those bedroom scenes with him. Aden takes it to far and doesn't know how to take no for an answer. But that's only half of it," she insisted. "I truly believe Richard could do great things with us."

"You've got me there. For a first timer he has quit a strong baritone. He must be like you; just born with it. My cousin Allyson was like that. Just opened her mouth one day and started singing. Overnight success.'

"Richard could be the same if given the chance."

Frank nodded and together they returned to the studio.

The three auditions moved quite smoothly. The men went up one at a time while the other two sat opposite the piano with Frank. Kori played the music and sang when her time came.

Jonathan Mackey was the first to go. His voice was strong, powerful and captivating. Richard was reminded forcibly of the other man's performance in Miss Saigon the previous evening. A level of apprehension grew inside him.

Next Aden went up. He stood behind Kori with one hand on her shoulder. Richard saw her stiffen slightly under her touch, but was certain he was the only one who noticed. There was defiantly a level of chemistry between them when they sang. Whether that chemistry was forced or other wise was anybody's guess.

"Alright Richard, your up." Frank said

Richard stood, clenching and unclenching his fists. He past Aden on his way to the piano and received a loathing look in response to his weak smile.

Some men mighty have perceived this as a threat or insult but Richard chose to look on the bright side.

It meant Aden considered him a real threat for the part.

Kori smiled at him from the bench. "Ready?" she whispered.

"Let's do it".

Kori began the opening _to __All I Ask of You _and suddenly Richard felt his body relax. This felt good. Almost as natural as when he created a new painting or photograph.

_No more talk_

_of darkness,_

_Forget these_

_wide-eyed fears._

_I'm here,_

_nothing can harm you -_

_my words will_

_warm and calm you._

_Let me be_

_your freedom,_

_let daylight_

_dry -your tears._

_I'm here,_

_with you, beside you,_

_to guard you_

_and to guide you . . ._

And so it had begun.

Richard sang, Kori sang, they came together to create something so beautiful it left Frank stunned in their seats and Aden scowling worse that ever.

"Well I think this is a pretty clear decision," Frank said after they had finished. He indicated that Richard should sit and he joined Kori on the bench. "John, I've cast you as Raul, so you'll have to do something about that hair buddy." Jonathan grinned. "And the part of Monsieur André will go to Aden which means Richard is our knew Phantom. Congratulations to all of you, but don't tell any of the others until the list goes up tomorrow after breakfast. Now get out of my studio you little divas." Frank finished happily.

Immediately Aden shot out of his seat and stormed from the room.

Kori on the other hand had wrapped her arms around Richards shoulders and was cheering him.

"Nice job Richard," Jonathan Mackey said as he moved towards the door. "I'll go get Aden to cool down. Don't take his exit personal or anything. He's just pissed that you beat him out for the part"

"Goodbye John!" Kori called after him.

"Nice meeting you," Richard added.

"You to. I'll see you guys in rehearsal tomorrow morning. Bye." John held the door for Frank and the two exited together.

"I told you! I told you could do it. Now do you believe me?" Kori said, laughing.

"Yeah, now all I have to do is learn an entire musical." Richard stood, took Kori by the hand and together they left the studio."

"You'll get used to it. C'mon, let's go meet the others for lunch. If we get there early enough, you might be able to dodge Becca Wilson."

Richard blushed, "How do you know about that?" He was still trying to get over his rather embarrassing morning meal.

Kori grinned up at him. "I heard about it from Padma right before I left to come here. If there are three things that girl knows, its dance, hair and gossip."

"Well than suggest we take you plan of action to heart and high-tale it down to lunch"

Laughing, still hand in hand, the pair strode across the manor to the cafeteria to join their friends in a toast to Richard's newfound vocal prowess.

The only dampener on the otherwise wonderful moods was that, according to Padma and Victor, neither Raven nor Garfield had left their rooms since breakfast.

Besides that everything was perfect.

For the first time in Richard's life there was someone who truly believed in him.

The stunning woman beside him believed beyond a doubt that he could succeed and he would be damned if he was going to let her down.

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Hope you liked it! It took me four days to type because I had to compete for time on the computer with my brothers and the older one can be pretty vicious when it comes to e-mailing his girlfriend.

Pronunciation for Ilya Kordreitski: Eel -ya- Coor-dreit-sky (roll the 'r')

_Ciao, Lovers! _

_Belle Mortre _


	6. Chapter 5 The Morning After

Holy shit! School + Writer's block really sucks!

I am so amazingly sorry that it has taken over six months to update, but between different performances and concerts and then a million other papers and projects I've been soooooooooooooooo side tracked. And then I re-read chapter six and realized that there were so many little sentences left out that really made the moment in the pool and audition scene. Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Oh well.

To answer a few questions:

xox.Annie Potter.xox ---- No, Aden and John are not from the show, though I can see how you could make that connection. John is based on an idea for a character from a different story I'm working on and Aden is based on a really really really hot bus boy I met in Crete last winter.

Jeanniestorm ----yes, Victor will have a relatively useful part in the story, though as things start to pick up, he will be put on the back burner. As it turns out, I've decided Padma will have a much larger part than originally thought.

Special Thanks to:

MiSZ KORi GiRL, teentitansrocks03, Richard loves Kori. AlienStarKicksButt, and Sugarland31.---- All of you're continued reviews pleading me to write more really prompted me to actually keep updating. Thanks!

Starfire's flame ---- thanks for the ideas and love (unfortunately I can't use your idea about Kori's father because that would completely alter the plot)

Illegally Blond ---- another wonderful source of love and encouragement. Thanks!

CandleCorwn2071 ----you are one of my favorite readers! Thanks for all of the amazing reviews!

xox.Annie Potter.xox ---- you totally rock. Thanks so much for reminding me to edit more (I've tried harder in this chapter) and for helping me to round out this story.

Elihu ---- thanks for all of the positive reinforcement and reminding me that all characters need flaws

Also special thanks to anyone who helped in the process and has now been stupidly left out of the credits

Based on the reviews, I'm trying to give all the characters more flaws

I'm also trying to make Gar less impassionate (up for kinky-ness), Kori less wholly innocent and a little more seductive (but not in a slutty way). Raven will be less of a grouch then in the show and much more of a reclusive artist, and Richard won't be so grumpy either.

One last thing. From this point on, things are going to get a little more…graphic. So if you aren't comfortable with vivid sexual content, back away right now.

Also I'm gonna be using a lot of theater terminology so if some of you out there aren't as well versed in such things as others, just mention it in your reviews and I'll get back to you later.

Here we go! Enjoy!

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The following morning Kori woke with a song in her heart and a smile on her lips. Things just kept getting better. Gelfie had published her work, she began Phantom rehearsals that morning and to top it all off, she hadn't dreamed the dream again last night.

No, instead she had dreamed about strong arms and a pair of dark, powerful eyes holding her spellbound.

She laughed slightly and traced her fingers over the gossamer bed curtains drawn around her four-poster. It had been such a…_pleasant_…dream too. All cool sheets and darkness, penetrated only by the scent of sandalwood. Kori had never seen his face but she would always remember the scent of sandalwood. Desire twisted in her belly at the memory.

Kori's alarm clock began wailing out high-pitched beeps, announcing that it was 7:00 A.M: time to get up-and- at-'em. She sighed. Life could be such a bitch when it expected a girl to leave a warm bed full of…_pleasant_…dreams. Well, what must be done must be done.

Kori rose, parted the white curtains and began to remove her pajamas, which consisted of nothing more than an oversized men's dress shirt. She had stolen it from either Gar or Gelfie during a trip to Paris when a shortage of clean pajamas had resulted in the theft of the worn old blue thing. Kori dropped the shirt and opened her closet door to find clothes for the day. She caught sight of her reflection in the long mirror suspended on the back of the closet door.

And for once she wasn't displeased by her naked form.

She saw the gentle swell of her breasts, firm and high, but not too small. She saw the slight curve of her stomach, which would never be absolutely flat. Narrow hips, long legs covered in golden flesh and in between dark red hair curling in tight ringlets.

Maybe she didn't need to get dressed just yet. After all, she had at least a solid forty-five minutes before she had to be ready for breakfast. That gave her plenty of time to practice her violin.

Kori padded silently past her tousled bed and the vanity strewn with bottles of foreign perfumes and the silver backed brush to her violin case placed lovingly on the small table next to her music stand.

Kori gathered up the instrument, gave it a quick tune then settled herself comfortably in the wide, padded window seat beneath the climbing orchids.

She started off with a few simple scales before going into "Unexpected Song". Not exactly Debussy level, but an enchanting song all the same. After that she moved into the fifth Bach sonata. The music was light and sweet, a far better morning pick-up than even the finest European espresso. Even through window glass the rising sun warmed Kori's bared skin. She was perfectly relaxed for the first time in days and it gave Kori plenty of time to look back on the last seventy-two hours in peace.

True, Miss Saigon being over was a bit of a downer, but if it meant Kori would never have to do another love scene with Aden Swift, it was just as well. Just the thought of that smooth talking leech putting his hands on her was enough to make her shudder.

Richard Grayson was another bright spot on Kori's agenda. The look in his eyes when Frank told them Richard was going to be playing the Phantom was priceless. Happiness and real hope, mixed with the slightest bit of trepidation. Wonderful.

Suddenly Richard's image flashed before Kori's mind's eye and she felt that all to familiar wash of heat rush through her body. Boy was she ever in trouble.

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Raven had dozed fitfully all night. Not having gone to either lunch or dinner the previous day had left a gnawing hunger in the pit of Raven's stomach.

But it would have taken a truckload of dynamite to remove Raven from her room yesterday. She just couldn't bring herself to rejoin the group if it meant potentially seeing **_him_**.

Him, with his captivating green eyes. The power they seemed to have over Raven the previous day at breakfast was almost frightening.

At the moment Raven was flopping around in bed, watching the luminous green numbers on her alarm clock, thinking of an excuse to tell Kori to get out of joining her and the others at their morning meal. Raven groaned and slid down the red silk sheets of her bed. They were a perfect match to the throw pillows that had been tossed haphazardly onto the floor the night before. Raven grimaced as she surveyed the damage she had caused to her bedroom in spastic bursts of energy the previous evening.

Half burned sticks of incense littered the vanity desk. Books, picked up in the desperate hope that they would distract her mind and then thrown down again were all over the floor with the pillows. The contents of the trunk at the foot of Raven's bed had spewed forth like Mt. St. Helen. Luckily, Raven's restlessness hadn't stretched so far as to attack her beloved statues.

About six inches high, each held a precious memory from the days Raven had spent in Crete with her mother. Those glorious days before the madness had completely consumed Arella's mind. Most of the figurines were of cut glass of crystal. There was Pegasus; wings spread wide in flight, Medusa with her many snakes, the mighty warriors Hector and Agamemnon poised for battle, a small model of a Grecian war galley flying red sails.

And there, in the center of the bookshelves on which the figures were displayed, was Raven's absolute favorite. It was the Minatare in polished obsidian. When Raven opened her curtains in the afternoon and the sun hit the tiny black object just right, Raven fancied she could see a glimmer of life in the Minatare's twisted features.

This was nonsense of course, but Raven still sometimes felt like the kindred spirit of the beast. Misunderstood and unloved.

A black Siamese cat leapt onto Raven's stomach. "_Ommph_!" she groaned as all of the air was knocked out of her chest.

"There you are Arra" Raven murmured, stroking the creature to its delight. The cat gazed up at her mistress with its penetrating yellow stare and Raven was forcibly reminded of another soul-searching gaze.

Garfield.

What the hell was she going to do?

Raven didn't know what, but something had passed between them yesterday. But Raven could hardly stay in seclusion for the rest of her life, always ducking Garfield in the corridors.

Suddenly Raven could hear the faint strains of a violin Aria floating through the study and her bedroom walls, reminding the girl of the presence of others in the world. Raven lay still for several moments listing to the sweet music Kori spun and it was then that Raven came to her conclusion.

She would simply behave as if nothing had happened between them the day before. And as Raven took no classes with Garfield, he should be easily avoided.

Spurned on by this thought, Raven rose from her dark nest of sheets and pillows and made her way across the shambled room, picking up tomes of Sophocles and Kafka as she went. Quickly Raven removed her black sleeping camisole and shorts and donned a pair of loose black cotton pants that swirled round her feet and rode low on her hips. Coupled with a cream colored Indian tunic blouse (a gift from Padma last Christmas) and Raven looked very much the dark Bohemian author.

Fingering the tiny mirrors sewn into the hem of her shirt contemplatively, Raven considered her image in the mirror.

For several months now Raven had allowed her hair to grow out, re-dyeing the violet shade when necessary, and now her silky dark locks reached half way to her elbows. It would never be as long as Kori's crimson mane, but what woman could handle that much hair anyway?

Raven sighed. She knew she would never be as beautiful as her glamorous roommate, or as lusted after. But it would be nice to know that there was at least **one** person out there for her.

Would she ever find him?

The violin music stopped. Raven listened as Kori thumped around her own room in a rush to get dressed and burst through Raven's door, a long standing tradition between the two girls.

Each morning for the past three years or so each girl would dress separately before Kori would throw open Raven's door and come bounding in all joyous and perky at the start of a new day, after which the pair would travel down to the dining room together.

But today was different.

If Kori came in before Raven could think of a good enough excuse, her ass was grass and Raven would have to spend another meal staring across the table at Garfield.

On time, as usual, Kori's lithe figure appeared in Raven's doorway.

"Good morning my dear, dark darling" she purred. Raven pulled back, slightly astonished. Kori seemed different this morning; tranquil. Somehow…sated. Still happy but in a different way.

"You're looking relaxed this morning. Sleep well?" Raven said as she seated her self before her vanity to tinker uselessly with her hair.

"Mmmmmmm, very well", Kori glided across the room to flop languidly on Raven's disheveled bed. The bottom of her fawn colored velvet blazer pulled up over her trim stomach and Raven felt an unusual pang of jealously aimed towards her innocent friend.

Kori was beautiful enough to have any man she wanted while Raven was shunted into the darkness.

For the first time Kori seemed to take notice of the change that had come over Raven's usually immaculate dark little den.

"Good lord Raven! What has happened in here?"

"I had a bit of a restless night. Pent up energy, you know?"

"You're telling me". Kori propped herself up on her elbows, eyes roving over the scattered books, unkempt linins and Siamese cat now hiding under Raven's vanity bench.

"Are you sure you are well Raven? You did not appear at either lunch or dinner yesterday. I fear you may be ill."

Kori crawled off the foot of Raven's bed and crossed the short floor space to seat herself behind Raven on the bench. The Italian Amazon straddled her legs around Raven's hips, arms around her waist and chin propped on the other girl's shoulder so that they appeared to be some strange two-headed, four-armed creature in the mirror. Raven wasn't big on communal touch, but somehow the situation was different with Kori. Natural almost like a sister would comfort her sibling

"What ailment has afflicted you dear one?" Kori said to Raven's image in the mirror.

"It's nothing. I just wasn't very hungry yesterday is all."

"You know it isn't healthy to only eat one meal a day. Especially when it is you who barely eats as it is."

"I know, I know. I won't do it again Kori, I promise."

"Good, now lets go down and meet the others for breakfast."

Raven blanched "Oh no Kori, I'm still really not hungry. I think I'll just stay up here to clean up my room before my first lecture."

Kori pulled away and stood, folding her arms across her chest. "Don't you _'oh no'_ me Miss Roth. You have just promised me that you wouldn't skip anymore meals!"

"Look, I know what I promised but I'm really not hungry and I really need to clean up this mess."

The girls appeared squared off for battle when, to Raven's surprise, Kori's shoulders slumped. She was giving in? Kori **never **gave up in an argument.

"All right," Kori said, "You win. It is just as well. Padma took a Lunesta late last night around 2:30 and the affects haven't worn off completely just yet."

"Is she still asleep?"

"Dead to the world."

"That's strange. Padma only uses sleeping pills when her mother calls from India."

"Bingo," Kori said as she stood behind Raven and began to weave the girl's hair into a long braid. She continued, "Mrs. Ramakrishna called around midnight."

"No wonder I didn't hear the phone ring, I was asleep by ten o'clock. But why would she call so late? Doesn't she know that some people in the world actually sleep?"

"Well it was almost noon in India and Mrs. Ramakrishna was on her lunch break from the sari stall she works in and decided to call Padma, never mind the hour here."

"What were they fighting about this time?" Raven asked, watching Kori in the mirror as she secured the violet braid into a loose loop with a few bobby pins at the base of Raven's skull.

"As I understand it, Mrs. Ramakrishna's sari shop was creating a trousseau for a wealthy Indian landowner's daughter's wedding. Apparently Padma's mother was holding this beautiful white wedding sari when she started thinking about Padma and the boy she is betrothed to and suddenly Mrs. Ramakrishna started crying in the middle of the stall, sobbing and ranting on about how she has lost her daughter to America and how she was so sure Padma would never come home to have a big Hindu wedding and Padma was breaking her mother's heart with all of her dreams of being a dancer when all any good Indian mother wants is to have her daughter happy but why can't Padma be happy back in New Delhi."

"Are you serious?"

"Very much so. I was in the study when her mother called. I am surprised they didn't wake you; the shouting was tremendous."

"So then what happened?"

"Well then Mrs. Ramakrishna started on about the young man Padma is affianced to, Varun I think his name is. Mrs. Ramakrishna is convinced that if Padma does not return to India within the next few months than Varun's family will break the marriage agreement and find another girl closer to home. After **that** Padma flew into a terrible rage and stomped off to her room shouting into the phone in Hindi."

"How did you hear her mother? Did Padma put her on speaker phone again?"

"Yes." Padma Ramakrishna loved broadcasting her arguments with her mother for no other reason than to embarrass the older woman.

Kori suddenly took charge of the situation. "Come come Raven, we have gossiped enough for one day. Why don't you clean up your room while I call the boys?"

"What did you say!" Raven croaked at the scarlet lotus blossom embossed on the back of Kori's fawn blazer as the red head slipped out of Raven's bedroom, pulling out her cell phone.

"We have breakfast them every morning. If we won't go to them, they might as well come to us. We have some fresh fruit up here and I know Garfield and Victor keep their little mini fridge well stocked so I am sure they could supply us with something else to eat. Now excuse me while I call Gar and try to bring Padma back to this plane of consciousness."

Kori shut the door behind her resolutely and Raven groaned, banging her head against the vanity top as Arra mewed around her mistress's ankles.

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Ten minuutes later Garfield stood outside Kori's dormitory door accompanied by Victor and Richard, all of whom were carrying an assortment of breakfast stuffs.

His heart leapt into his throat when Victor knocked on the door and someone behind it pulled it open wide.

'_Raven?' _Gar thought. But no, it was Kori. And though Garfield loved Kori more than anything else in the world, at that moment he would have quickly traded his "sister" up for a certain dark authoress.

"Good morning all!" Kori's voice rang out as she kissed Victor and Richard on the cheek when they entered her study before Garfield. He stepped through the doorway and into Kori's arms, which she wrapped round his neck as they kissed each other on both cheeks.

"Good morning _cára miá_" she said affectionatly.

"Same to you sweetheart."

Together they moved into the study to join Victor and Richard on the leather couch. Somewhere in the vicinity the shower was running.

"Whose in there?" Vic asked nodding in the direction of the bathroom, passing around a box of mini-muffins.

"No one at the moment," Raven said from her doorway. She was stroking a black Siamese and Garfield thought she looked very petty in the gentle morning light. Almost as exotic as Kori.

Kori herself piped up, "Oh that reminds me. Victor, could you give me a hand in Padma's room? The shower is for her."

"What do you need girl, 'cus if Karen ever found out that I was in Padma's room she'd kick my ass from here to Chicago."

Raven followed Kori into Padma's room saying, "Oh shut up and get your ass in here. What Karen doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Fine."

The huge bald man sighed resignedly and hauled himself off of the couch to join the girls in their friend's room. Two seconds later he re-appeared with Padma cradled bridle style in his arms. Her dusty head was thrown back and her tongue was lolling out. All her limbs were limp and there was a strange, half conscious moaning coming from her body. Everyone present snickered.

"Where do ya want her?" Victor asked nonchalantly. Kori came scrambling out of the bedroom, followed by Raven who was stirring something murky-white in a glass cup.

Kori answered, "Throw her in the shower. She took a sleeping pill last night and this is he only way to wake her up."

Victor followed Kori with Padma still slung across his arms into the steamy bathroom. Next moment there was a thump, a shout and Victor tore out of the bathroom looking embarrassed.

"Padma's gonna kill me!" He panted.

"What happened?" Richard asked from the couch.

"Kori wanted me to set Padma down under the shower head but I kinda slipped at the last moment and Padma landed really hard on her ass in the water. That woke her up pretty well and suddenly she's staring up at me and sputtering and cursing me out in Hindi!"

Kori returned, laughing as she closed the bathroom door behind her. "Smooth Victor. You are really lucky that Padma is still so woozy or else she would be out here killing you as we speak. She claims to have quite large bruises forming on her backside. Is her lassi ready Raven?"

"Got it right here," Raven held up the murky liquid.

"What is it?" Gar questioned.

For the first time all morning, Raven focused her attention on Garfield. But he was startled by the noncommittal manner in which she took him in. Maybe he had been wrong, and Raven hadn't noticed anything the previous day.

For a moment she didn't answer, then, "It's a lassi, an Indian drink of yogurt curds and water. Padma swears they help with hangovers and pill repercussions."

And before Garfield could engage he in conversation, Raven had grabbed two mini- muffins and a pear, left Padma's lassi on the coffee table before the large windows and swept off back into her bedroom.

Richard on the other hand was having a much more enjoyably breakfast. As Kori passed his corner of the couch on her way to the coffee table, he grabbed her hand and pulled her backwards until she was seated on the arm of the couch next to Richard. She giggled, slinging her legs over her captor's lap with her butt still firmly planted on the arm of the couch, reveling in the easiness and familiarity of this newfound friendship.

"Are you read for your first day of classes?" she asked Richard, focusing intently on the boy's dark sunglasses. Why did he still persist in wearing them? Was he truly so secretive as he seemed to want others to think? His voice intruded on her thoughts.

"Yeah, I guess I'm ready. First you and I go to a theater rehearsal?"

"Yes. Here, let me see your schedule, I wish to compare it with mine."

Richard retrieved his schedule from his pocket while Kori fished a slim leather wallet out of hers. When opened, Richard glimpsed a few crumpled dollar bills, a receipt to a restaurant called Peking Palace and a New York State driver's license that read Kori Anders-Kordreitski.

"Here," she pulled a small folded square of paper out of her wallet and exchanged it with Richard's. His read:

Grayson, Richard M. 18, Senior 

8:00 AM – Theater Arts: Carmody, F. ---Auditorium.

12:00 Noon – Lunch: -----------------------Dining Room

12:30 PM – Art History: Chang, L. -------Lecture Hall B

2:00PM – Masters Art: D'Loncre, M. ----Visual Arts Studios

6:00PM – Dinner: ----------------------------Dining Room

While hers read:

Anders-Kordreitski, Kori J. 18, Senior 

8:00 AM – Theater Arts: Carmody, F. ------------------------Auditorium.

12:00 Noon – Lunch: ---------------------------------------------Dining Room

12:30 PM – Musical Composition: Platt, H. ------------------Lecture Hall D

2:00PM – Masters Symphony Orchestra: Gelfarius, L. ---- Auditorium

6:00PM – Dinner:-------------------------------------------------Dining Room

"Oh glorious!" the red head exclaimed, "You will have at least one of us in class at any time! I will take you to Theater Arts, then after lunch you will take Art History with Raven and then Masters Art with Victor. You have nothing to fear."

"Hey I'm not afraid of anything, least of all a few classes."

"Whatever you say," the bathroom door banging open interrupted Kori.

Padma staggered out in a cloud of steam, Her long hair was stringy and wet, a yellow towel was wrapped around her midriff. Her furious stare roved across the room to settle on Victor, whom had his back up against the opposite wall with his hands raised in a soothing way.

"Padma," he said slowly. "Girl, don't do something you might regret. That towel won't stay up if you try to kill me and I know your mama wouldn't want you giving this whole room a strip show."

She advanced on him slowly, one hand clutching the top of her towel as the other stretched out to pin Victor against the wall by his neck. Victor sputtered as he fought for air.

The other three watched in vague amusement. "Who knew she was so strong?" Garfield muttered.

Padma was speaking now in a low dangerous growl. In her anger, her accent thickened. "If you **ever** lay a hand on me again in such a manner, and then **drop** me, I will make it understood by Karen that you and I slept together while she was visiting her family last weekend!"

Victor's own ire rose. He wrested Padma's hand from his neck and in turn smacked the girl with the heel of his palm against her skull. Not to do harm, just enough to make her back up.

"What the hell are you talking about! You and I never screwed around!"

"Yes but your lady does not know that!"

"Oh yeah? Well if you tell Karen I fucked you than I'll call your mama and tell her the exact same thing!"

Padma pulled back in horror. "You…you…you bastard! You wouldn't dare! My mother would crucify me! She would end my engagement!"

Victor mocked speaking into a phone with his hand, "Hello Mrs. Ramakrishna. My name is Victor Stone and I have completely sullied you daughter Padma." Padma's shrieking cut him of.

Richard jumped up, seating Kori carefully on her feet as he went. "I think it's time to go," he whispered to Kori and Gar. Together the three teens moved stealthily past their fighting friends and out the study door. 

Giggling at their own craftiness, Kori grabbed Richard and Gar's hands and ran down the hall past other senior girl dormitory doors.

Five minutes later the trio was still laughing at the idiocy of Victor and Padma when they arrived at the auditorium. Gar peeled off from the pair, heading in the direction of Studio One. Apparently that was where the pit orchestra was meeting to look over their new scores for The Phantom of the Opera.

Tacked to the wall next to the central theater doors there was a large piece of corkboard plastered with a long list of names. Ten or so people were grouped around it, some cheering their friends and others consoling the depressed. Just when Kori and Richard had passed the group on their way to the stage door an angry Becca Wilson stormed past, muttering curses under her breath. Everyone in the surrounding area could here the insults and stared.

"What was that about?" Richard asked.

A voice behind him answered, "Don't mind Becca, she's just being a bitch because she doesn't seem able to grasp the fact that Kori is better than her."

A young black girl with a thousand tiny braids reaching down her back sidled up to Kori and twined her arm threw the taller girl's. She looked vaguely familiar to Richard.

Kori smiled saying, "Richard, I would like you to meet Mimi Hart, Karen's little sister. They are both dance majors." And indeed, Mimi had the petit, perfectly rounded structure of a dancer.

"Yeah, we are," Mimi said. "Anyway Wilson really thought that she could get Christine this time. Watch your back for a while Kori, Becca's gonna be in a pissy mood for the next few days."

"Do not worry about it."

Richard peered over at Mimi, "What ended up being the final cast list?"

Mimi's eyes got wide, "Are you Richard Grayson?" He nodded. "Holy shit man! Jon told me about you last night! He says you totally kicked ass yesterday. Nice going."

"Thanks," he said, loving the grin on Kori's face.

"So anyway," Mimi continued, "This is the new cast list, there were extras on the notice board." She handed a sheet of paper to Kori and she and Richard read down the list.

The Phantom of the Opera – Richard Grayson

Christine Daaé- Kori Anders

Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny – Jonathan Mackey

Monsieur Firmin – Peter Zabnadad

Monsieur André – Aden Swift

Carlotta Giudicelli – Jenna Moore

Madame Giry – Becca Wilson

Ubaldo Piangi – Saul Martin

Meg Giry – Monique Alvarze

"This looks great!" Kori exclaimed. "I can't believe Becca is upset with me though. Madame Giry is a very pivotal character."

"You know her girl, nothing is never good enough for her. Just ignore whatever she throws at you, it won't last long. Later."

Mimi bade the pair goodbye once they reached the stage doors, going off to join her own friends.

"Ready?" Kori said looking up at Richard, taking both of his hands in her much smaller ones. Again Richard felt that delicious warmth spread up from her touch.

"As ready as I'm gonna be."

"Do not worry Richard, our classmates will be very accepting of you. Just be your self."

"Sure, why not."

To Richard's delight, Kori kept one of his hands firmly held in hers as she pushed open the stage right door. Together they moved through an array of half made set pieces and costumes thrown over dressmaker's dummies. The seats and stands used by the symphony had been pushed into the crevasses of the wings. On the center of the stage, Richard glimpsed another group of theater students laughing and sitting upon a partially stricken set. They seemed to be a cheerful lot, shouting over one another in a loving way. Richard picked out Jon Mackey sitting against the remains of a Vietnamese strip bar, knees pulled up to his chest. There was a buxom girl with honey colored hair and a stout waist leaning next to him secure in the embrace of Jon's arm around her shoulders. The girls looked up, spotted Kori and grinned.

"There she is," the girl shouted, announcing the pair's presence to the room at large, "Hey darling. What's shakin'?"

Kori smiled and pulled Richard farther into the room with her.

"Good morning everyone. Hello Jenna, Jon." Kori said.

Jon stood and pulled his companion with up with him. Richard took the honey haired girl to be Jenna Moore. Suddenly Richard and Kori were besieged on all sides by the teens that had over night become his cast mates. They all seemed eager to meet Kori Anders' attractive new friend. Quickly Richard was introduced to the cast of Phantom of the Opera and the varied crews. Mr. O'Flaherty and Raven hadn't been kidding when they said the theater department heralded a stranger brand of students.

Each actor or actress had at least one piercing and Richard caught sight of more than one tattoo. Pink, purple, white, blue and green hair did not seem uncommon. A girl from the lighting crew Kori introduced as Leta had bleached roots that grew into a violent shade of aquamarine. But the strangest thing was that she seemed to have taken a nail file to her eyeteeth so that she now resembled a sun kissed vampire. Leta was a perfect example of the levels of uniqueness the students at Summerset rose to.

"All right, all right, can we have some breathing room please?" Kori said jovially. Thankfully the crowd dispersed. Richard followed Kori as she took a seat next to Jon and Jenna.

Jon turned to them saying, " Where the hell is Carmody?"

Jenna laughed. It was a lovely, good-natured sound. "He probably spent the night over in North Bowin. That's where Marcus is opening his new nightclub. I think I heard him tell Frank to come and spend the night in the apartment over the club. He's probably still on the road."

Richard turned to Kori. "What's North Bowin?"

"It is the city nearest to the school, about 45 minutes to the west. It is a pretty cool place. Plenty of clubs and galleries."

Suddenly a young man dressed all in black flopped down next to Jenna and removed a square of rolling paper and a small bag of something dried up and green from his back pocket. He grinned wolfishly when Jenna and Kori groaned at him as he began rolling a cigarette out of the materials.

"What?" he asked Jon, "What are they groaning at me for this time?"

"You will ruin your voice and your health if you persist in smoking those awful things." Kori said, snatching up the rolled concoction.

The boy reached over and snatched the cigarette back again "It's only clover. Now, who has a light?"

At least half a dozen kids held up a lighter.

"Richard, this fool of the earth is Saul Martin." Kori said to him.

Richard laughed and Saul seemed ready to retaliate when Frank Carmody came barreling through the stage's back doors hefting a cardboard box full of scripts.

"Saul!" He shouted, "Put that stick of crap out! What have I told you about smoking those things."

"It's only clover!" Saul protested, but he put the homemade cigarette out on the piece of set on which he sat.

"Ok gather round kids," Frank said as he set down his box at the front of the stage and turned to face his students. "I would like to congratulate each and everyone of you on our last performance of Miss Saigon." There was a rush of applause. "Yes, very nice. On to the next order of business. I can tell you have all met our newest member, Richard Grayson. Everyone say hi." The group at large all called out 'hello' and Richard grinned embarrassedly. "Now, from this point on, you must all live, think and breath Phantom. I want you to focus all of your energies on this one show. Nothing else is of any importance. This next note is very important to anyone with a piercing, tattoo, ect." The teens snickered to each other. "This show goes up in three weeks. You all have **one** week to strip the dye out of your hair, remove all piercing, visible or not, and contact the makeup team about special body makeup for tattoos. Especially you girls in the dance company. I had a talk with Angie the costume designer last night and all female dancers are going to be in some very revealing costumes. I don't want to see one of you go into a lift and suddenly have the whole cast know about a tattoo on your ass." More laughter greeted these words. "Well, I've talked enough and I can tell that none of you are listing anymore."

Frank pulled one of two stacks of papers out of the box while leaving the other inside it.

"I want all company members to come to me to get a score and all principle characters come get a script/score combo out of this box."

Immediately the actors surged forward as the crewmembers dispersed to be about their own tasks. Kori and Richard didn't even bother trying to fight through the throng in the search for a script. Instead they sat happily with Saul on the bar remains watching the swarming students. Finally things began to calm down and just as Kori rose to get her script, Saul pulled her back down to her seat.

"No worries Kori, I'll get your and Grayson's stuff."

"Thanks," The pair replied.

As Saul moved off, Richard turned to Kori and started playing happily with one of her ling curls.

"Having fun?" she asked, giggling.

"Very much so. You were right, these are really nice people here." He saw Aden Swift glaring in his direction from across the stage. "Well, more or less."

Kori had seen Aden as well. Somehow the power of his glare made Kori's skin squirm and she instinctively moved closer to Richard. Taking a deep breath to help calm her nerves, Kori smelled a dimly remembered scent. Musky and smooth.

"Oh that smells wonderful," She breathed deeply again, trying to place the aroma coming from her alluring companion. "What is that you have on?"

Richard smiled easily. "Thanks. It was a going away gift from my guardian Bruce. A bottle of botanical cologne. Do you like it? I don't usually wear cologne."

"I enjoy it very much. What is the exact scent? I feel like I know it."

"It's Sandalwood. Oh, thanks Saul."

The boy had returned carrying three scripts, one of which he tossed into Kori's numb lap.

'_Sandalwood?'_ she thought torpidly.

This promised to be interesting.

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Yayyyyyyy! I've finally finished this chapter. I promise that I will try to update a little faster next time. I actually planed to have this chapter span for the entire first school day, but then the damn thing would be like another 45 pages, so I'll just post the rest as soon as I can. 

I'm kinda sad with the way this ended. The beginning seemed so strong and then the last two pages or so just seemed to bottom out. Oh well

I know this is completely random, but I am typing this on my Dad's laptop in my room with the TV on and Avatar, the last Airbender just showed the last episode of the season and I have come to the conclusion that I would like nothing better in this world tan to take Prince Zuko as my lover. He seems like he would be a lot of fun in bed (not like I'd be able to judge) and I believe that an orgasm with him would be totally worth it.

Ok, now that all my perverted horyness is out there, thanks for reading, see you later!

_Ciao Lovers! _

_Belle Mortre _

P.S. If you aren't familiar with the music of Phantom of the Opera (or the plot line), Miss Saigon, Bare: A pop Opera, O.A.R., Red Hot Chile Peppers, the kinks (Lola), ect I would suggest that you make sure you become more familiar with them because I will be using a lot of music as things progress.


	7. Chapter 6 Meeting Marguerite

Wow, I posted in under five days! Freaky. I'm trying to make up for the past uber long break.

Before reading this chapter, if you haven't ever heard the song "Cocaine" I suggest you do that now.

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Richard was easily slipping into the rhythm of the morning's classes. After reading through the script during Theater Arts, Richard was slowly losing his consternation concerning having to learn an entire musicale. He had bonded well with his other cast mates and succeeded in making Kori laugh twice more. Somehow bringing forth that enchanting sound had brightened his entire day. Now as he exited his Art History conference at Raven's side he glanced around earnestly for his new companion among the thick crowds of people exiting the other lecture halls lining the corridor in which they stood.

"Looking for someone?" Raven said slyly.

Richard's head spun around to face her. He had truly enjoyed his class with Raven; she was quite intelligent and very interesting to discuss the works of Vermeer with. And his new professor, Lillian Chang, had proved to be just as fascinating when Richard could understand her words around her thick Chinese accent. Raven promised that after a few days Richard would find Professor Chang's speech a little easier to comprehend. It had all been very enjoyable. But still he couldn't stop himself from searching out a certain bright musician. Raven smiled weakly in an understanding way.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I'm used to this. She and Gar will be coming out of that door down there." Raven pointed out a door a little ways down the hall through the mass of milling students. There Richard spotted a flash of red hair where Kori stood near the door of Lecture Hall D with Garfield and a distinguished looking older woman. Snow white hair pulled back into a severe bun projected an image of strict discipline when matched with her smart green silk blouse and black pants.

As Richard crew closer to the trio, he noticed a small plaque on the door the woman stood next to that proclaimed the words Musical Composition, Professor Helena Platt.

Just when Richard had tapped Kori on the shoulder, the woman he took to be Helena Platt handed a sheaf of sheet music to Garfield saying, "I like where you're taking this Mr. Logan. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you Professor," he said.

"You're welcome. Is that the piece you plan on using for your Exhibition submission?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about it."

As the other two spoke, Kori smiled up at Richard and whispered, "Hello friend, did you enjoy Art History?"

"Yep. Just need to find Victor and head off to art."

"Oh, there he is." Kori began waving as Victor, with Karen on his arm, came barreling through the horde, grinning.

"What's up man?"

"We were just waiting for you," Richard said.

"Do you have your stuff for class?" Vic asked.

"What are you talking about?" Richard replied.

"Well this is your first day in Madame D'Loncre's class. She's gonna want to see a portfolio of your work."

Richard blanched, "Oh shit! I left it up in my room!"

"Quick, you run upstairs and get it. I'll catch up with you at the bottom of the dorm stairs." Victor said urgently.

"Right." Richard took of in a run, dodging students as he went.

"Better go catch up with him. Later guys." Victor bade his friends goodbye and jogged off to catch up with a spastic artist.

"I gotta go too y'all." Karen said heading off in the direction of the dance studios.

Kori and Garfield bade her farewell and linked arms together, walking off towards the auditorium and their symphony rehearsal.

She turned to her life-long companion and smiled. "What do you think of him?"

"Grayson? I guess he's all right."

"He is much more than _'all right'_." Kori bristled slightly.

Garfield picked up on her reaction and immediately felt his hackles rise. "Oh yeah? What **do** you think about him?"

Kori realized how the conversation was going and blushed slightly. "Well, he seems very intelligent and… gifted. I very much enjoy his company."

"You shouldn't trust every guy who crosses your path Kori. I mean I like him too, but we really don't know him at all."

Kori stopped in her tracks. The other students pushed them on all sides so she grabbed Gar by the hand and hauled him into a vacant classroom.

"Garfield, you have always protected me, always. But we have also always been alone, aren't you tired of that yet? Aren't you lonely?"

Swiftly Gar took hold of her around the waist and pulled her into a tight hug. He spoke into her hair.

"More than you know sweetie. More than you know."

Kori looked up at her closest companion. "So learn to trust him. I do."

"I'll try."

Kori grinned, "That is all I am asking for."

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Upstairs, Richard was tearing through his dorm. He jumped over Gar's piano stool and threw open his bedroom door.

Though he didn't know it, his room was designed much the same as Kori's except that where she had a window seat Richard's room was blessed with a set of slim French doors and a tiny balcony that was really only for show. He has explored them the night before to discover that they opened just wide enough to let in a lovely autumn breeze. Cardboard packing boxes full of clothes and personal effects lined the walls and a portfolio folder was lying on a small oak desk in the corner.

Richard grabbed this file up and turned on his heel quick as a flash and dashed out of his room again. He thundered down the spiraling stairs past three floors of dormitory doors, almost colliding with Victor at the bottom.

"Got your stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Ok let's go. We gotta hurry though, Madame hates it when we're late."

Together the boys ran off with Victor in the lead. It indeed seemed like they might be late as there were no other students still in the halls. Victor led Richard through a maze of sunlit corridors finally arriving at the base of a set of narrow stone steps leading up into oblivion. Richard couldn't see where they ended due to poor lighting in the stairwell.

Richard sprinted up the stairs behind Victor. They seemed to go on forever and even though both men were in excellent shape, they were panting by the time they reached the small landing at the top of the stairs.

A large blue door covered with a painting of a dove in flight stood before them. Just as Victor stretched out his hand to open the portal, it was pulled open by someone on the other side.

And Richard found himself face to face with one of the most exotic women he had ever seen.

Mocha skin covered a supple body that could bring any man to the ground. A silk summer sundress evocative of the ocean fell just to her knees, bare feet tapped themselves on the hardwood floor in an annoyed manner. The woman's slender arms were crossed over her chest and her fingers sported many expensive looking rings. A colorful scarf held back a head of glossy corkscrew curls. Her lovely lips were twisted into an exasperated pout.

"Vous êtes en retard," she whispered icily in French. Richard knew just enough of the language to know she was accusing them of being late.

To Richard's surprise Victor stepped back, tucked his hands behind him, lowered his head and muttered, "Ma Madame d'excuses". Richard translated awkwardly in his head _'my apologies Madame'_. The tall black woman seemed to have a very strong persona that kept men even as imposing as Victor in line.

"Vous devez être," Richard snickered in his head as the woman told Victor he _should_ be sorry and the other man's head dipped an inch lower.

Suddenly she switched her attention over to Richard himself and she questioned in a silky French accent, "And who are you? Victor, why do you bring strange friends to my class?"

"No Madam, this is a new student. His name's Richard Grayson. I had to show him the way. I…"

Madame D'Loncre cut him off. "That is enough Victor. You are excused from being late. Be about your work now, Exhibition is in a few short weeks."

"Merci Madame," Victor nodded his head respectfully and passed by his professor into the room still hidden from Richard.

"So you are my new student?"

"Ye…yes," she really was quite impressive.

The Madame took notice of his tentative manner and her look softened somewhat.

"Forgive me my ill-tempered greeting of Monsieur Stone. He often comes late to this class and he rarely has an excuse. He thinks I do not t know about his girlfriend, but I have seen them together at the bottom of my stairs, often ten minutes into the start of my class. Well, I can only yell at him so much. He is gifted but needs to learn restraint, especially with the girl."

Richard laughed despite himself.

Madame D'Loncre smiled and uncrossed her arms, extending one hand for Richard's portfolio. Felling amazingly self-conscious, he handed over the samples of his artwork. This was the one thing that could keep him in a Masters class.

She opened the folder and her eyebrows rose. Richard's gut clenched as it filled with adrenalin. But his fears were for naught. For Marguerite D'Loncre had rarely seen such a show of vision among one of her students.

The photographs were an inspired mix of provocateur and innocence. He seemed to have a skilled eye for lighting; the film had been expertly developed without a single flaw.

And the paintings! Photographs of oil paintings hanging in an attic studio somewhere were vivid and alive. As she turned the pages of Richard's portfolio, she realized she had misjudged him. Marguerite had taken one look at the young man and decided he was just another wannabe artiste come to through himself at her feet.

But no. This child had a true talent and a beautiful eye for what could be captured in paint and film. She returned her attention to the nervous young man before her and smiled benignly.

"Welcome to my class Monsieur Grayson."

Richard released a breath he didn't know he had been holding and followed his new teacher through her elaborately painted door into a sunny, open chamber. The opposite wall was made completely of soaring glass doors leading onto a small platform carved out of the sloping roof. Richard saw a short ladder leaning against the side of the roof and he suddenly remembered what Raven had said about Madame D'Loncre sometimes liking to teach her classes on the roof.

In the center of the room there was a young man with a thick shock of chestnut hair seated on a stool draped in purple cloth atop a petite raised dais. He was perfectly still and completely nude. Circled around the model in a few rings were students about Richard's age intently memorizing the contours of the young man's form. Easels supporting half finished portraits and coal sketches stood before the students and so intent was each person on their project that only a few looked up when Madame and her new protégée entered the area. Eric Clapton's _"Cocaine"_ was playing softly in the background.

Richard looked around for Victor and couldn't locate him, though he did recognize Leta with her vibrant hair near the front of the circle. He made as though to join the group of artists when Madame Marguerite's hand on his arm stopped him. He caught her eye then followed her past the crowd across the room to another door, this one decorated with a rising sun. They slipped silently through and stood at the end of a long hallway lined with eight or so doors. _"Cocaine"_ could still be heard even on this side of the door and as Richard followed his teacher down to the end of the hall he noticed that she bounced slightly with the music as she walked.

"I was very impressed by the work you have shown me thus far Richard. Based on your portfolio, I have decided that you are ready to take up a semi-private studio here. You are in luck, Victor will your studio partner, he being the only one of my students without one at the moment."

They had stopped before a plain door. Madame turned to face him again.

"Now Richard, there are certain things that I expect from my students, especially the owns whom I entrust with a private studio. You must maintain the level of uniqueness I have witnessed in your samples. You are a very talented young man, do not make me regret taking this chance on you so close to Exhibition."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking Madame, what is Exhibition? I've heard a couple people talking about it but I really have no idea what it is."

"Oh of course, my apologies. Exhibition is a form of…a …a midterm exam here at our little academy. Students are required to submit one piece pertaining to their subject major. I know this might seem like a large burden for you to have to take on in the middle of term, but I think that with Victor as a studio partner, he will be able to aid you in any thing you might need assistance with. I tend to check in on each of my isolated students at least once per class, please feel free to ask any questions or for support. The point of isolating you like this is to cultivate individuality in your art. Good luck." And she left him there outside his new studio, hips swaying to the faint music as she went.

Richard entered the flat he would now be sharing with Victor and almost jumped back again at the sight that met him. Victor stood at the base of a cubic plinth. The huge black man was wielding a blowtorch and welder's mask and soddering small scraps of copper to what seemed to be the foot of a massive statue. The other man looked up when Richard entered and pushed his mask back over his bald skull.

"Hey man! How did it go with Madame?"

"Petty good. She says I'm supposed to share a studio here with you."

Victor's face lit up merrily, "No fuckin' way! I been here four years and it took me the first two to even get into her class at all. I only got a private spot this year! Damn man, you must be something else!"

Richard grinned embarrassedly as he moved further into the room. It was a perfect place for a pair of artists. Sloping roof on one side punctured by gabled windows and whitewashed walls completely bare except for what seemed to be a dozen pictures of Karen dancing in a flowing white dance costume.

"What have you got going on here?" Richard asked, gesticulating with his chin at the strange structure Victor had been attacking with his blowtorch.

"This is my submission for Exhibition."

"Yeah…but what is it?"

"Karen."

"Beg Pardon?"

"Karen. This is a statue of my girlfriend."

"Has she seen it yet?"

"No."

"Don't let her."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean if you love her, and value your life, you wont let her see this."

Victor returned to examining a piece of metal, "It isn't yet man. I'm still working on the finer points."

"Yeah well keep working." Victor punched Richard good-humoredly in the arm and pulled down his mask again. Over the buzz of the blowtorch he asked, "So what do you think of Madame D'Loncre? She's pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah. Where is she from? She's gorgeous."

"I know! I'm pretty sure Madame came here from Guyana, from one of the French colonies."

"Really? Her accent sounded more Parisian." At Victors raised brow Richard quickly explained "I had a Parisian tutor when I was out of school for a few weeks in the eighth grade. I was having surgery on a ripped tendon in my knee."

"Well you may be right. After four years you get to know your professors pretty well. Her father was a Parisian goodwill ambassador through the U.N. He went to Guyana, met Madam's mother, they got married and had Madame and her sisters. As far as I can tell, Madame was kinda her dad's favorite, he would take her to Paris with him on business trips and that's were she first got into Western art."

"You really know a lot about her."

"We've spent a good amount of time together. She's helped me get slots in contests and stuff. We've talked. She might be a little snappish if you show up late, but Madame is still my favorite professor."

Richard nodded appreciatively. He moved around the massive statue and the more he studied it, the more he realized that it did look a great deal like Karen Hart, in a skeletal sort of way.

The entire structure was crafted out of copper strips welded with care to form a figure with long legs leaping out of the pedestal supporting an arched back and arms flung wide to the winds. The head was fashioned out of the same metals but much more intricately, with curving cheekbones and a thousand coils of copper wiring used to create Karen's unique double chignons.

As Richard reviewed the statue, he noticed small hooks on the back of her shoulders, elbows, wrists and hips.

"What are the hooks for?" he asked. Victor removed his helmet again and came to join Richard on his side of the statue.

"I'm gonna suspend some silk sheathes from them, make it seem more like she really is dancing."

Richard noticed again the pictures of Victor's girlfriend on the wall. "Like in those?"

"Yep. Those were taken at Karen's Exhibition project from last year, she choreographed a song by Kytaro."

"Tell me more about Exhibition, Madame D'Loncre didn't get to far into it."

"Ok, all you need to do is decide on a definite project, put your entire life force into it, than present it before D'Loncre. Next Exhibition is due the week before term ends in December, about nine or ten weeks off"

"Greaaaaaaaat"

Victor just laughed.

Richard decided to leave his burly friend to his work and settled down in the corner of the studio, taking a small pad of sketch paper out of the back of his portfolio folder.

He began drawing without really concentrating on the figure forming on the page. So now he had to create an opus in just over two months. Wonderful, just peachy. What the hell was he going to do? If Exhibition was anything like the midterms Richard had taken back in Gotham, than they were all that kept him in his classes. He would need something really incredible to do that.

Slowly, Richard glided into the haze-like stupor he usually obtained when searching for new inspiration. He should probably stay in the painting department, which was his strong suit. But what to paint?

Suddenly Richard realized his hands had stilled. He looked down at the picture in his lap and felt his heart leap into his throat. Kori stared up at him from the paper, her features slightly smudged where Richard's hand had smoothed over the pencil markings. She looked just as he had imagined her two nights ago during her performance of Miss Saigon; beautifully provocative, full of passion and promising an eternity of pleasures.

And an idea began to blossom in his head.

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Raven took her usual seat in her usual balcony and began her usual practice of waiting for Victor, and now Richard, to join her as they waited for Kori and Garfield to be released fro their symphony rehearsal, which tended to run later than most classes.

It had been a pleasant day, topped off by the fact that she had been able to avoid Garfield Logan the entire time. But the more she had thought about it, the more Raven realized that her paranoia was a groundless panic, fueled only by the stress of the oncoming Exhibition and worry over her mother. The odds that anyone as talented and intelligent as Garfield was interested in _her_ were too slim for a pragmatist like Raven.

Just then Raven could hear two pairs of footsteps treading lightly up the stairs behind her. Richard flew through the velvet curtain followed closely by Victor. Raven watched as Richard settled his well-muscled frame in one of the plush seats and leaned over the balcony to listen all the more attentively to the orchestra. Raven sighed to herself; she should have seen this coming.

Richard was besotted with Raven's best friend. Soon he would have seduced Kori into his arms, and something told Raven that Garfield's new friendship might stop him from taking the typical precautions regarding Kori's safety. And Raven would lose the one truly close friend she had. Or was she simply being neurotic? Maybe these things would never come to pass and everything would stay the way it had. God willing.

Shaking off these depressing thoughts, Raven leaned forward like Richard to look more completely at the auditorium. She was lazily sweeping her gaze over the huge room when the sight of two people down in one of the aisles, a man and a woman took her by surprise. This was strange, as people who were not involved in the orchestra were not usually allowed in the auditorium during a rehearsal (Raven and the others tended to keep a low profile). But their strange presence was soon made clear when the man looked up in Raven and Richard's direction and Raven recognized him as Frank Carmody. The woman she didn't know, but that hardly mattered. She watched as he bustled out of the aisle and entered the small inner door beneath the balconies. The woman in turn left the aisle in the other direction, traveling up across the stage and around the performs into the right wing.

One glance at Richard told Raven that he had noticed none of this. He was gawking spellbound at Kori as she watched a flutist stand to perform a solo. What was he thinking? What thoughts went through his head when he looked upon that sweet, innocent little thing?

Suddenly the curtain behind them was thrown open and Carmody burst in.

"Grayson!" He boomed. Instinctively the three teens turned and whispered, "Shusshhh!"

Frank repaired his tone and hunkered down next to Richard, who ripped his eyes away from the scene on the stage.

"Hey Mr. Carmody."

"Please, call me Frank."

"Sure."

"Look, I'm glad I found you here. I was just down there in the house talking to our costume designer Angie; she needs to see you to get your measurements for costuming purposes."

"Now?"

"That would be best. Angie's waiting in the stage right wing. Look for the open door in the wall. I'd take you there myself but I've gotta get on the road if I want to get home in time for dinner."

"Ok I'll go right down."

"Thanks. See you tomorrow morning."

Carmody hefted himself off the floor and exited the box, soon followed by Richard. He moved quickly and was soon in the pre-described wing. As he fought his way through the waves of set parts and lighting posts he caught sight of the "open door in the wall". A tiny, squat woman in tight Lycra pants and a frilly poka-dot top waving energetically stood framed in the light spilling out of a sort of cave built into the wall of the wing.

"You must be Richard," She said in a thick Brooklyn accent, "Thanks for coming down now, this eliminates me having to track you down tomorrow." She laughed, a bit like a horse, but sweetly all the same. "Come on in honey. I'm Angie "

Richard battled his way through the masses of theater flotsam and followed the woman, who barely came up to his shoulder, through the door into her domain. Raw strip lighting lit up cavern-like space stuffed to the gills with dressmaker's dummies covered in half made costumes, shelves stocked with wigs and sewing supplies, and full length mirrors suspended upon the walls. The walls were plastered with pictures of different costumes from a thousand different shows, the most prominent among them now being those of a group of French courtiers and dancers.

"Just step up there hon," Angie said, her voice floating up from the cabinet she had her head in, one hand pointing out a small raised stand in the center of all the clutter. Richard hopped up and turned to fine Angie suddenly right there at his hip.

"Oh, you really sneak up on a person, don't you?" He said laughingly.

Angie giggled as well, "That's what happens when you're only four and a half feet tall." She whipped out a tape measurer. "So Frank tells me this is your first performance ever. Nervous?"

"A little I guess."

"Don't worry baby, your gonna do just fine with this group of kids with ya,"

"Thanks." Richard felt more than a little awkward with this tiny lady running her tape measurer up his thigh to get his inseam measurements, but he just gritted his teeth and stared up at the ceiling until she had finished measuring his legs. As Angie began wrapping the tape around Richard's hips, he looked around the room more closely, noticing what looked like the remains of the costumes from Miss Saigon.

"Did you design the costumes for the last show too?" He asked while Angie was noting down some of her charge's measurements on a clipboard.

"Yep. That was my favorite job, till this one. Frank spoke very highly of you ya know."

"Really?" Richard glowed under the praise.

"Uh-ha. He says you have a great voice and with a little help you could be wonderful." She paused. "I also think he might like you because of the way you act around that nice Italian girl, Kori. She's such a sweetie, but the boys in your class are always trying to hit on her. I think Frank's taken a liking to you because you don't just seem to want her for sex."

Luckily Angie turned away at that moment to find her clipboard or she would have seen Richard's guiltily blush.

To buy time for his flush to pale again, he stared around the room. A glimpse of something green caught his eye. A female dummy was sporting a stunning green silk robe flowing to the floor on glistening folds. The mannequin was partially concealed by other gowns and negligees, barely noticeable except for a small glimpse visible through the jungle of clothes.

"That's a beautiful robe. Is it for the show?"

Angie cocked her head at the dressing gown thoughtfully. "I was _thinking_ about using it for the scenes where Christine is in her dressing room, but the green is a little to vibrant for this particular operetta. So Frank and I decided to stay closer to the original white lace for her instead. I'll just have to put it back in the closet I suppose."

Suddenly a cell phone clipped to Angie's waist started chirping and she glanced down.

"Ok, this is my youngest son, I gotta take this. I've got all your measurements, you're free to go." She started moving towards the door, "Um… could I ask you to turn off the lights? There's no reception in this part of the building and really I need to talk to my kid."

"Sure, no problem."

"You're a doll."

Angie dashed out of the costuming room with her cell phone in hand. Richard stepped off the stand and crossed to the light switch next to the door.

From this vantage point he could hear more clearly the music played on the stage. The musicians were all really quite talented; he had rarely heard anything so beautiful. The sound of the piano floated up over the melody of the strings and Richard's thoughts turned to Garfield.

True to his word, he hadn't said anything to Gar about Kori's fainting fit in the pool and this slight confidence both thrilled and guilted him. While he found Kori's trust captivating, he was also becoming quite fond of Gar and keeping something like this from his new roommate pulled at his conscience.

But if Richard planned on going through with the idea forming in his mind, he would be violating a much larger part of Garfield's trust.

"_I like you and all but if push comes to shove and you've hurt her, I'll kill you."_

He didn't know what to do.

Richard stood a moment longer in the door way before returning to the room. Just as his hand stretched out to flick the lights off, he again saw the green silk of the rejected robe.

And the plan in his head began to take on a clearer form.

If Angie didn't plan on using the robe than she probably wouldn't miss it anytime soon. Something about the robe was just begging to be used.

Swiftly, fearing intrusion, Richard grabbed hold of the dressing gown, and pulled it off the mannequin. He folded it into a secure bundle and tucked it up under his shirt, reorganizing it until it the silk lay a little smoother under his shirt. He turned off the lights and fled the theater quickly.

By sheer luck he met no one on his way back up to his bedroom. Closing his door securely behind him, Richard threw the pilfered robe onto his bed and flopped down next to it. All right, he was half way there, now what?

Richard gazed around his room in that same half-stupor that consumed him earlier in his new studio.

And then he found _what_ he was looking for. Now all he needed was the _who_.

Richard hauled himself off the bed and crossed to his dresser with its few toiletries. He fiddled with his tube of hair gel, the picture of a younger version of himself and his mother at his First Holy Communion. A lump formed in his throat whenever he thought of her and Richard immediately slapped the photograph face down on the dresser, instead filling his hands with the green glass bottle of sandalwood cologne from Bruce.

Suddenly the way to carry out his plan seemed completely clear.

He grinned as he dabbed a tiny amount of the aftershave on the back of his neck.

She had said she enjoyed this fragrance.

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Well I hoped you enjoyed the first day of classes. I know I got a little over descriptive at times, but I've been typing for five days straight and I got a little discombobulated. Literally, I haven' left my room for anything besides showers and meals!

I want you opinions on the direction this is taking.

_Love always, _

_Belle Mortre _

_Ciao! _


	8. Chapter 7 Preoccupied

Ok, this is where things are going to start coming together.

Lets just use this time to clarify a few things that seemed to be the source of some confusion

Padma is not the parallel of Jinx, Jinx will not be mentioned at all in this story.

Though it may have appeared like Richard is madly in love with Kori, at the moment he just rally lusts after her (the love thing is my own fault, with the way I phrased things in the last chapter)

Holy Crap! I just now realized that I haven't been doing disclaimers for the entire story so far! Shit! So her it is now:

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, though this topic is up for inspection.

Also, a message was passed on to me by a fellow author that I ask all future reviewers of ANY PIECE to please refrain from flaming, it is cruel and unnecessary! (But many thanks to those of you who have been steadily reviewing my story; it is the reason I keep writing!)

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Kori and Raven slowly traced the familiar path to their rooms. They had just left the dining room after finishing dinner and were now both absorbed in their own thoughts.

It had been a strange meal. Only Victor, Karen and Padma had seemed at all animated. Kori, Garfield, Richard and Raven had each been engrossed in his or her own thoughts, but what those thoughts had been were anyone's guess. No one had talked much and finally the group had disbanded to go about their own business.

Kori had been exceptionally quite. Raven had perceived the change in her usually upbeat friend and as they climbed the spiral stairs to their dorm asked, "Is everything ok Kori?"

"I…am fine. Why you ask?"

"It's just that you're never this quite. What's wrong?"

Kori sighed. They had reached the top of the stairs and turned down their hallway, passing other girls their age. "I am having some trouble with Garfield. We have been together since we were eleven and I love him so much. And I know that he has my best interests at heart, but the way he has been acting of late is starting to concern me."

"I haven't noticed anything different about him," Raven was quick to answer. But Kori didn't notice her friend's odd behavior; she was too preoccupied with her own feelings.

"Well, it really only became apparent today. While he and I were walking to our rehearsal earlier he said that he doesn't completely trust Richard because we do not know every little thing about him. Well that makes absolutely no sense! You and I do not know every aspect of the other's life and yet I would trust you with my most intimate secrets. His inability to trust anything new makes my weep for his soul. I don't want him to be alone for the rest of his life!"

They had arrived at their front door and Kori stalked through, followed dutifully by Raven who immediately snuck off to her room, barely registering that they had a visitor.

Kori drew up short at the sight of Padma and Richard perched on the couch in the study. The pair looked around at her entrance and Richard stood. Kori had to admit that he looked quite striking in the light from the setting sun streaming in through the tall windows. His smile upon her was genuine.

"_What was Gar's problem? How could any man whose smile was so pleasing keep secrets in a friendship, even one so knew as ours? Garfield does not know what he is talking about."_ She thought sourly.

"Kori, hey. I was just looking for you."

"You have found mem" She said brightly.

"I needed to talk to you about something and Padma kept me entertained up here until you came back."

Padma smiled and took herself off to her room, saying, "It was my pleasure. Now if you will excuse me, I need to call Varun before my mother tracks him down and fills his head with lies, the bitter old hag."

Kori returned her attention to the dark figure before her. "You needed something of me Richard?"

"Yeah. Why don't we go for a walk?"

"Sure."

They left the dorm again and headed down the stairs with no apparent course after that. They simply walked along in the growing darkness, content in each other's company for a few minutes. But they could hardly wander like that all night and Kori knew this. She turned her attention onto him as they reached the long hallway that stretched the length of the back of the manor. They began the long trek down the way.

"Richard what is it you desired of me?"

"_A lot more than I can ask of you"_ he thought guiltily. However he said, "I needed to ask you for a little favor. Well I guess it's not really so little."

"What is it?"

"Um…well you see...I found out today that I need to create something for this Exhibition thing." He cut himself off."

"And…" she prompted.

"And I was wondering if you could give me a hand in it."

Her face brightened considerably, "Oh Richard I would be glad to assist you in any way I can."

"Great. Because I wondering if you would…allow me to…paint you."

They had stopped before a large mullioned window and Kori stared up at Richard, slightly taken aback. This was not what she had expected when he had asked for her help.

The silence stretched to an uncomfortable height. To buy time it seemed, Kori pulled at one of her long curls.

"Oh… Richard. I am very flattered that you would ask this of me. I am afraid I don't know quite how to respond to a question like this."

"Hey, no pressure. You know, if you want to do this, just say yes and if you don't than don't worry about it. I'll just think of another idea for my project. Actually I'd understand if you didn't want to, I know that it's kind of a strange thing to ask after only three days of knowing each other," he was rambling now. What was it about her that unhinged his jaw like this? "I don't even know why I would presume like that, I'm-"

Kori cut him off, "I'd love to." She was smiling sweetly up at him and at that moment Richard felt like the only man in the world.

They stood very close together now. Kori realized with a start that the scent of sandalwood was strongly emanating from him, tickling her senses pleasantly. The sunset illuminated both their faces and for a brief second Kori almost fancied she could see past his sunglasses, deeper into his soul than she was sure any one else had ever bothered to look. And for just that moment, that infinitesimal second, Kori was just as saddened by what she saw there as what she had witnessed in Garfield; that same fear of trust.

As though he could read her thoughts, Richard suddenly pulled back, saying quickly, "Perfect! Just come up to my room tomorrow after dinner and we can get started." He turned quickly back the way they had come and Kori had to scramble to catch up with him.

"Do I need to wear anything in particular?"

"No, clothes won't matter."

Kori stopped in her path. "What!"

Richard's words finally sank in to his mind and he blushed. "No no no! It's nothing like that! I'm not asking you to pose naked. I actually have something for you to wear, that's what I meant."

"Oh. Thank god, Garfield would have hunted you down and slaughtered you if you had asked me to pose nude for you." Kori said, the relief evident in her voice. Clearly she was much more shy about some things than Richard had originally thought and the notion pleased him.

He grinned lopsidedly at her as they walked back to her suite. "You two are really devoted to each other, aren't you?"

A shadow passed over her features. "We are all the other had in the world." And she said no more for the rest of the journey through the steadily darkening building.

Richard, fearing he had crossed some unseen boundary with her, also kept up the silence, thinking instead of how he was deliberately going against Garfield's warning. But Richard wasn't planning on using Kori for anything other than a model, so where was the threat that he might accidentally hurt her?

As long as Garfield never learned of their goings-on, Richard had no fear of ever losing someone who he was quickly coming to depend on as a true friend.

Suddenly Richard found himself outside of Kori's apartment door. How had he not remembered climbing the stairs? He really had to stop losing himself in his thoughts like that. Kori looked up at him and if she was still bothered by Richard's earlier comment about herself and Garfield, she showed no sign of it in her lovely, somewhat tired, smile.

"Well, goodnight Richard. It will be a pleasure working with you in this mysterious endeavor of your."

"Likewise."

"Only," she bit her lip adorably, and Richard found that he could not remove his gaze from those two perfect lips. "Maybe we should not inform Garfield of your project. He is under a great deal of stress at the moment."

"With what?" Richard cut her off, concern for Garfield edging into his voice.

"Well, a large part of it is the oncoming exhibition. I am excused from it this semester because the school mandates that publishing a piece of some kind or winning a contest on a national level will exempt you from a semester of Exhibition. But Garfield still has to compose a piano piece and he is quite distressed over how the third movement should end." She paused, "And there is something else bothering him, but I am not sure what. He thinks I do not notice when he stares out of the window for hours on end, but I **do**. I just do not know what troubles him so, only that he is plagued by something."

_Raven!_ Richard thought. But no, he had sworn to Gar that he would tell no one, even Kori.

"What I am trying to say, Richard is that I do not wish to add to Garfield's list of worries. I think it would be best if you and I kept this between us, just for the time being, until Garfield has calmed down a little bit. He tends to overreact when he is under as much stress as he is now."

Richard smiled understandingly; how often had he himself worried for nights on end that his latest piece wasn't good enough for this or that symposium?

"Whatever makes you most comfortable Kori. I want this to be as easy as possible on both of us, it can be quite a long process."

"I will keep that in mind. Good night _Signore Grayson_. I will see you tomorrow morning"

And, much to Richard's surprise, Kori placed one hand on each of his shoulders, as she had upon their first meeting, and leaned in to peck him lightly on the lips.

"_Buona notte_," she whispered, before slipping silently through her front door.

On one side of that heavy door was a bedazzled young man standing in an empty hallway with his fingers placed against his lips, trying desperately to convince himself that such displays were common among Europeans, while on the other side of that same door an equally ruffled young woman sank on her study couch, attempting to reason out why she was taking such crazy liberties all of a sudden.

Well, she reasoned, whatever the cause, she was liking the outcome more and more.

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Yeah, I know it was kind of quick, but I have just started posting another story and have two more in the works, so I wanted to throw a little something to tie you guys over, because it might be a little while before I can post for Painting Love.

Well, tell me what you guys think!

_Ciao Lovers! _

_Belle Mortre. _

P.S _Buona notte _is Italian for 'good night'.


	9. Chapter 8 Brilliance

Oh I am such a bad girl! I can't even remember when the last time I updated was! But never fear my dear ones, I have a renewed zeal for this fic and I aim to work harder on it.

We are going to take a small break from gar for the moment, don't worry; he will be back in another chapter or two.

The exercise that this chapter starts off with is based on actual theater exercise that I have had to do several times and is actually quite effective, it was not simply created by me as an excuse for…well, you'll see. Hehehehehe.

Once again, I apologize for being such an unfaithful author. But I would love to know what you all think of this chapter, as it caught even me a little off guard.

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"Good morning everyone!" Frank greeted his cast with his usual affectionate manner the following day.

They responded in kind, though much more drowsily.

Frank smirked. "Glad to see you're all awake and ready to get down to work. I've decided to hold off on starting the blocking until later in the week; we are going to start learning the score tomorrow. Partly because I couldn't get Gelfarius to give me Garfield Logan for the day to be our pianist and partly because today I want to focus on finding you characters and exploring the characters of you main opposites; this play operates much more closely upon the chemistry between each of the characters, be it sexual or not." He added when the sleepy teens tittered. "Now, everyone, circle up around the stage. Keep it nice and wide and everyone face in, I'll call you in pair by pair to get started on the exercise, everyone else pay close attention to whoever is in the center."

The cast complied with Frank's orders and soon a very large circle had formed around the director. He looked bemusedly at the large group of his students and something seemed to dawn on him.

"Oh, right! I don't need you dancers right now. All dancers can go into Studio One and start working through the opening number with our two new dance captains."

No one moved.

"What's wrong?" Frank asked exasperatedly, looking around at his immobile dancers.

A young man standing beside Mimi Hart with skin so dark that he truly appeared black and a shiny bald head spoke up. "Uh…you never assigned a new pair of dance captains Frank."

"Oh shit." The large man reddened and lumbered over to his briefcase, muttering to himself, "can't freaking believe it…how did I forget…ah, here it is!" He straightened up and turned back to face his kids, a manila folder in one hand. "Here we go. I swear to god, if I didn't have Marcus to write down every little thing I ramble out, I don't know where I would be. Right, the new dance captains are…Mimi and Joseph."

The girl in question shrieked and leapt up into the arms of the dark man beside her, who Richard supposed must be Joseph because he was grinning and shouting 'yes!' as well as Mimi wrapped her legs around his waist and the pair spun in gleeful circles.

"That's enough! Get outta here!" Frank shouted over their laughter and Joseph carried Mimi, still cheering, off through the wings followed by the dance company. Just as the last two dancers, a pair of twin sisters, were abut to disappear into the wings Frank shouted after them, "Sarah, May, tell Mimi and Joey that I left the choreography in a blue binder next to the stereo but if they want to change anything then that's fine, I trust their judgment, just tell them to tell me about any changes so I can approve them and mark them off in my score."

Sarah and May nodded in unison and scampered off after their fellows.

"This is much better," Frank said, taking in his considerably smaller group. "I'm going to call you in to the center in pairs and I want everyone to watch; the allure between characters is very important. Let's start with…" Frank's gazed swept around the circle, "The Monsuires André and Firmin."

Richard and Kori watched as pair after pair of their cast mates took their turns in the center of the ring 'exploring the chemistry' of their opposites. The actors had to stare at each other, close their eyes and listen to each other's voices, trace their fingers over each other's cheeks and eyebrows. It was, on the whole, quite strange.

In some cases it was rather funny, like when Frank first called in Peter Zabnadad and Aden Swift and he asked them to delve into the characters of two uptight French theater producers and the pair had shaken hands stiffly, glaring at Frank Or when Jenna and Saul were called forward as Carlotta and her lover Ubaldo and Saul had launched himself into Jenna's arms, sending both tumbling to the floor and earning Saul a good kick in the shins from Jon.

At other times it was actually quite painful to watch. Becca Wilson and Monique Alvarez played the mother-daughter pair of Madame Giry and Meg. Watching Frank attempt to get them to 'bond' as mother and child was an excruciating process culminating in a rather rigid hug with Monique's head smothered in Becca's shoulder.

"Phantom and Christine, you're up next."

Monique and Becca stalked out of the center of the circle, Monique grimacing at Richard and Kori in anguished pain as they passed her on their way to the spots vacated by the other two.

Kori and Richard faced each other, slightly bashful and for some reason suddenly unable to meet each other's eyes. He still stubbornly wore his sunglasses, but that didn't stop him from noticing that Kori looked incredibly sweet in her black dance body suit and baggy, old black sweater that reached all the way to her thighs. Her curls had been carelessly secured by a soft purple ribbon but instead of looking slovenly Kori simply appeared adorable.

God he wanted her.

Frank circled them slowly. "Now, relax you two, this is a painless exercise…usually." Richard laughed on a sigh and Frank smiled and went into the shpiel he had been using for the last few groups. "There we go, nice and relaxed. I want you to focus entirely on the person standing in front of you. Notice every little thing about them; their hair, their physique, the color of their eyes, their smile, everything you can think of."

They did as they were bid. Kori roved her gaze slowly over her partner, taking in every tiny detail. It hardly needed extra observation that Richard had an excellent physique. Instead she paid more attention to his partially shielded face. His skin was such a lovely tan, not pinched and brown like some white men who spent too much time in the sun, but actually rather golden, as though it radiated with an inner light. His high cheekbones gave him an almost avian appearance and Kori knew from having memorized his eyes that there were little crow's feet at the corner of each eye from years of laughing.

Those beautiful eyes, still shielded form the world.

In one swift, decisive movement Kori reached up and snatched the sunglasses off of his face.

"Hey!" he protested.

But Kori merely called out, "Jenna!" and tossed the shades into Jenna's waiting hands, all without ever breaking eye contact with Richard. Now she could see straight into his cerulean orbs, and she loved what she saw. Intelligence burned in those eyes, intelligence mixed with a healthy dose of wild passion and artistic brilliance. Kori had chosen well in him

He **_was_** the phantom.

Seemingly of it's own accord Richards hand rose up to cup Kori's cheek in a tender yet possessive embrace. Her eyes widened and her breath quickened as she leaned in slightly. His thumb brushed softly across her bottom lip. They didn't even hear the small, almost inaudible gasp that went up from the crowd around them. Frank stared intently at the pair, sparing only a moment to hold up a hand behind him to silence his cast.

"Good, very good. Let's bring in Raul." Frank's voice intruded quietly and John moved silently up behind Kori. Frank spoke again, "Raul, this woman is the love of your life, and here she is, completely in the thrall of the phantom. How does seeing her like this make you feel?"

John moved closer until he was all but pressed up against Kori from behind and slid two hands down the curve of her back. She gasped and swiftly turned to face her fiancée. Raul handled her gently, with the same possessiveness of the Phantom, yet there was a different edge to it, as though Raul needed to live with her, as opposed to the phantom, who needed her to live. Raul smoothed his hands over Christine's crimson hair and he smiled, almost laughing in that familiar way that all lovers share. He pulled her close and the pair began to dance, rocking slowly from side to side at first then more fluid movements quickly forming small circles on the spot.

The phantom's arms shot out, securing themselves around Christine's waist and pulled her back against his chest. She gasped once in surprise, and then bent her head back against him, exposing her neck and her captor rested his forehead against her shoulder. No one moved, least of all Christine and her captor.

Slowly a murmur rose up from the crowd, completely muted to the three actors and director in the center, but every tongue waggling the sight before them was completely entranced at the incredible tension that had rose up in the theater.

Her pulse pounding in her throat as she felt Richard's warm breath on her neck, Kori raised her eyes to Jon's shocked features. All pretences had been dropped; he was Raul no more. Once again Jon was a teenage actor who was apparently now quite taken aback by the suddenness and ferocity of Richard's actions when he was in character.

The bell rang out signaling the end of the morning classes and the beginning of the lunch hour and Richard and Kori sprang apart.

Frank looked as though this was the best day of his career. "That was amazing! I have never seen a more convincing portrayal of a deadly lover's triangle. Absolutely amazing! I love you three," He raised his voice. "Okay, I'll see everyone tomorrow morning, be ready to sing!"

"Wow." Was all Jon said before he turned and walked back to wrap his arms around Jenna and walk with her out through the wings.

"Yeah." Kori whispered. She looked back at Richard, who appeared to be swiftly composing himself by running his hands repeatedly through his hair and blinking quite a lot. "Um…uh, I've got to go talk with Gelfie about something for symphony later, so I won't be at lunch, but I'll see you tonight I guess."

"What? Oh, yeah, right."

"Is seven o'clock alright?"

"Yes. Um…I'll see you then."

And they parted, each going in separate directions. Richard snatched up his bag and jumped off the stage to walk swiftly up an aisle alone and Kori turned back to exit through the wings when she caught sight of Mimi and several members of the dance company gaping at her from that very spot, blocking her way.

"Excuse me Mimi, " She murmured, pushing her way through the crowd.

"Wait! Hold up Kori!" Mimi called.

Just as Kori had escaped the theater and started off down the hall at a good clip, Mimi came jogging up behind her and grabbed a handful of her baggy sweater. "Hey, wait!"

"What is it Mimi?" Kori was stunned to hear how snappish her voice sounded.

"Don't get pissy with me, I just wanted to ask you what was going on out there. It was hot!"

"What!"

"Yeah. Girl, I was watching the whole time you were out there with him. Damn, you two were hot together, you guys got some real heat."

"Um, thank you?"

"No I'm serious." Mimi started laughing at the bemused look on Kori's face. "I'm messing around with three different girls and none of them have ever turned me on faster then watching him be all possessive over you. What does that tell you?"

"That you're not a lesbian after all and you're also a bit of a masochist?"

Mimi reared back, clearly affronted. "No you weirdo! I was trying to ask if there is anything going on with you and Grayson."

"Mimi!"

"Well, is there?"

"No! My god, you perverted little creature, what would ever give you that idea!" Kori was red in the face by now.

"Whoa, sweetie, calm down. I didn't mean to offend you, it's just that seeing the two of you like that…you see, in the dance community, when two people can express that sort of…connection and …fire it usually means that they are messing around on the side. It's not a bad thing, it usually makes for a more convincing performance."

"And you think that I am 'messing around' with him!?"

"Well…yeah. Are you?"

"No!" Kori insisted. But something was beginning to nag at her. Would the others begin thinking along those same lines? Would they all believe that she had become Richard's lover, after only a few days of know him?!

A cloud of worry darkened her features as she scurried off to discuss that afternoon's rehearsal with Gelfie. Kori knew he noticed her subdued behavior, but when Gelfie asked what was wrong, Kori merely shook her head and insisted that it was nothing.

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At 6:15 that evening Richard was moving distractedly around his room, double and triple checking everything: Kori would be arriving soon and he wanted everything to be just so in order to make their first session go as smoothly as possible The emerald robe was folded neatly on his bead, the dark russet of the coverlet blending enchantingly with the silk.

He had borrowed a low ottoman from the main room that he knew neither of his other roommates would notice missing and positioned it ever so carefully in front of the open French doors and the useless balcony. The slim doors had been propped open with a pair of tiny, heavy brass pots Richard used to use for mixing paints, and a lovely breeze was wafting through the room. Only a lamp near the door and the autumn sunlight filtering in through the doors lighted his chamber.

In the area he wished to contain the scope of his painting the entire back wall around the doors had been stripped of any and all decorations, few though there had been, until all that was left was the whitewashed wall. Richard loved simplicity.

Yes, everything was prepared and under control; he could relax.

However, just as he had settled down and had begun paging through his script for the next day's rehearsal, his cell phone began playing _Desecration Smile_ and his heart almost jumped right out of his mouth.

That was his caller id for Barbara.

Barbara Gordon, the one girl he had been consistently screwing since the age of fourteen. But what could she possibly want now? Theirs had never been anything more than a strictly sexual relationship. Sure, they had been close friends through most of high school, but ninety-five percent of their time had been spent either in the guest house on Bruce's estate or steaming up the windows of her old station wagon There was never an official relationship. Richard didn't think he could even remember ever taking her out on a date. At least one that didn't end early and with her panties tossed in the back seat of the car.

Curiously Richard flipped open the phone and said, "Hello?"

Barbara's honey-sweet filled his ear. "Hey hot-shot, how are things in the wilderness of New York?"

He smiled despite himself; it was nice to hear a voice from home. "Ehh…not as bad as I though it would be. How are things with you Barbie-doll?" His old pet name for her rolled unconsciously off his tongue, partly in a show of affection, partly to hear her get riled up in the way he so loved.

He wouldn't be disappointed. "Holy Mother Of God, Rich, if you call me that one more time, I swear that I will come up to that school and personally make sure that you can never have children!"

He laughed. "Damn, I miss you."

"I miss you too."

This was nice. The friendly affection he had for Barbara warmed him, gave him some of his old confidence back and he leaned back on his bead. He could just imagine her now, probably sitting at her desk in her room, maybe surfing on her laptop for new books on archeology. It was her one non-superficial passion. And of course, in Richard's mind, she wore only that little cream baby-doll dress that Richards loved so much and nothing else. Absolutely. Nothing. Else.

"I bet you'll never guess where I am right now." She said.

"I don't know, Mel's place?" he said, naming a mutual friend from back home.

"No, keep guessing."

"I don't' now Babs, just tell me."

"I'm in New York!"

Richard sat bolt upright, eyes wide. "What!"

"Yeah, I'm visiting my mom."

And suddenly Richard remembered. Barbara's parents had been divorced for almost ten years. Her mother Sharon lived in Manhattan as a broker on Wall Street. Barbara often flew out for a week or two to visit.

"Oh…so how is the visit going?"

"Fine. Mom is really happy that you in got to go that artsy school. She said that it was a great opportunity for you. She says that the school is really well known in Manhattan; every high school artist in the city tries to get in. Hey! Mom also said that there is supposed to be this incredible violinist who goes there, I think she should be about our age. Mom says she saw this girl perform a reception at The Met last summer. Have you met her yet?"

It was like Richard had just run headlong into a brick wall. Kori! Oh, Richard was definitely going to hell for this one.

"Um…no, I don't think I have yet," he said quickly. "So, how's New York?"

"Not to bad. I'm pretty much on my own during the day when mom's at work so I've spent a lot of time in China Town shopping for knockoffs. I think I've got all my Christmas shopping for the girls done. Do you think Jackie will like a fake Channel overnight bag?"

"I don't know." He wasn't paying attention to the conversation anymore, until Barbara spoke again.

"Hey, ya know what? Mom told me this morning that she is taking the rest of the week off so that we can hang out together and she said that if you want, we could come up to visit you! Wouldn't that be great? Your school is only a three-hour car ride north of the city and if we started early in the morning we could be there by ten. How great is this!"

"Oh…um, no." he stuttered stupidly.

"What?!"

Richard scrambled to collect his thoughts. He couldn't quite figure out why, but he didn't want to see Barbara, to have her see the haven he was slowly building around himself. Somehow, seeing those two worlds mix would completely destroy the purity of his new home. Seeing loud, sexy Barbara standing next to sweet, demure, alluring Kori would shatter some as yet formed dream. He stuttered again.

"Um, no honey, it's just that I wouldn't feel right. I wouldn't ever be able to see you and your mom because my schedule is so full and the school is really strict about not letting students off campus." This was a complete lie; Richard knew for a fact that getting out of the school at night, and especially on the weekends, was one of the easiest things a student at Summerset could do. Even now Victor and Karen were planning to spend the following weekend in North Bowin at a hotel for their two-year anniversary (secretly Richard had been awed; he could never imagine spending two weeks committed to a girl, let alone two whole years).

Barbara's disappointed voice sounded in his ear. "Oh, well I suppose then it would be sort of pointless if I could only see you for a few minutes." Her voice deepened to the sexy purr she knew he couldn't resist. "It really is a shame. I've been thinking a lot about you lately, California just isn't the same without you." She giggled sexily.

And somehow, it just didn't do what it used to for Richard.

He changed the subject quickly. "Have you seen Bruce since I left?"

This was a question he had been itching to ask someone from home but he hadn't been able to call anyone who would know why he was asking the question, or what the answer would be.

"Yeah, actually I did. I went over to the manor the day before I flew out here because I left my book on Peruvian archeological digs in your room a few weeks ago. I poked my head in on Bruce before I left and I gotta tell you Rich, I think you should call him."

Richard shook his head at the woman who wasn't there to see it. "No, I meant what I said that night," he was referring to the fight that had ensued between Richard and his guardian at his surprise going away party, during which the two had nearly come to blows over the fact that Bruce (in Richard's opinion) was always trying to control his life and Bruce in turn felt that Richard was wasting his life and talent on women and carnal pursuits

The pair hadn't spoken since that night. It had actually been Bruce's butler and friend Alfred who had seen Richard off at the airport the next morning.

"Please Rich, I think you should call him. He misses you."

And Richard felt a blossom of guilt begin to grow in his chest.

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Kori brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and raised her hand to knock on the front door of Richard's dorm, and then dropped it again. Was she completely insane? If Garfield found out what she was doing he would…well, Kori had no idea what he might do, but it might not be so pleasant.

No! Kori wouldn't let the dark cloud that had begun to hang over Garfield darken her days too.

Kori knocked determinately on the door, but no one answered. So instead of knocking again, she simply pushed through the door and found the study quite deserted, but she could here Richard talking to someone in his bedroom.

"Yeah…yeah, don't worry, I'm fine…nah, I'm not even that angry with Bruce anymore…yes I promise I will call him-Babs! Babs, will you shut up? Yes, I promise I will call Bruce later, okay?…Look I've gotta go, I'll call you back…yeah, don't worry about me, tell your mom I say hi…okay, bye."

"Richard?" Kori called.

He popped his head out of his room. "Oh, hi!"

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt you?"

"No no, that was just a friend from home calling to see how I was. I'm really surprised the call went through at all, we're in the middle of nowhere."

"Well, there is a cell phone tower just on the school's borders."

"Really?"

Their words were insignificant and neither seemed quite ready to look the other in the eye. They retreated to his bedroom

"Ah, Kori, about this morning…um, I was just-"

"It's alright Richard. I understand. You were in character. You did wonderfully! I was very proud." She seemed eager to reassure him and put the whole episode behind them.

"Really? Because you looked a little freaked out when you left."

"Well, I have never been treated quite like that." A gentle blush colored her cheeks, which pleased Richard greatly.

"Here, why don't you get dressed and I'll start setting up." He handed her the emerald robe and turned his back on her to begin getting his paints and brushes in order. He looked back over at her and laughed. "Don't worry, I won't peek."

Laughing herself and slightly more at ease, Kori turned around so that she could now only hear Richard's movement and she began to shimmy out of her black sweater. Next came her black body suit and, quivering nervously in her black lace bra and panties, slipped the luxurious robe on.

Suddenly a terribly wicked temper seemed to take hold of her and before she could stop herself, Kori had unhooked her bra, slipped off her panties and wrapped both up in her sweater.

She turned back to him and said softly, "Alright, I'm ready."

Richard turned back to her and smiled. "Okay, let's get to work."

He motioned for her to sit on the ottoman in front of the open French doors and she did.

"Here," he spoke softly, coming closer and pushing lightly on her shoulder in order to shift Kori better into the light. "Here, just tilt your head back just like that…perfect, now joist shift your weight back and…"

Kori did as she was told, moving her hips slightly more backwards, with the result that the silk around her knee slipped off, pulling the rest of the fabric with and revealing the long line of Kori's golden thigh. Immediately alarm bells began to go off in Kori's mind; why, oh why, had she taken off her underwear!

But it didn't see as though Richard had seen anything…important, because aside from the fact that his eyes lingered just the littlest bit over the exposed flesh, he made no other reaction. Though when Kori indicated silently she would move the robe back up to cover her leg again, he placed one large, warm hand over hers and said, "No, leave it, it looks good this way."

He stepped back across the room and simply stared at her for the longest time, tilting his head from side to side slowly and once shifting the lamp on his desk to move the light, but otherwise simply staring at her.

Kori had never modeled for anyone before, but during her lunch hour, after talking with Gelfie, she had sought out one of the sophomore girls who she knew modeled often for the Master's Art class and pumped her for information. According to the girl, Clara, it was an incredibly tedious job because you had to sit completely still for god knew how long, but at the end it was a lot of fun because there was a sketch or painting of you to show for it. Not that the models ever got to keep the painting, but sometimes the artist would take a nice digital picture as a keepsake for the girl. Armed with this knowledge, Kori was prepared for complete stillness, and the first twenty minutes were going quite well! Now to see how she would last over the next few hours.

Suddenly Richard moved forward from where he had been staring at her and Kori, never once moving, felt him reach behind her and gently pull the ribbon from her hair. Her curls fell around her face. With smooth, practiced gestures, Richard brushed her hair away from her face and arranged her scarlet locks just the way he had envisioned, with most of her hair cascading over the shoulder nearest the back wall, framing her face beautifully with only one stray bit of hair resting on her nearer shoulder.

Then he did something Kori hadn't been expecting. He pulled from a desk draw a small digital camera and began taking photos of her from every angle. She couldn't keep her moth shut. "What are you doing?"

He didn't look up from the next shpt he was taking. "I need to capture the light exactly as it is right now. The time of the sunset is going to be changing pretty quickly son and I use these to work off of."

She felt slightly disappointed. "Oh…so you won't need me after tonight, I guess, if you have pictures."

That got his attention. He set the camera aside and moved to where Kori could see him. "Well, I know some artists who only need a model to sit for them once or twice, but I like to use both the photos and a model, because with just the picture, it's easier to forget the different textures…the clothes she wears, the curtains, her hair."

His voice trailed away to nothing. Before he moved out of Kori's line of sight, she caught a look at his face and could tell that he was no longer completely in the room with her. It was a distant look, as though he was imagining so many other wonderful, fearful things and the only way he could express them was through his art. Kori knew, because Garfield had once described to her the look that came over her face when she was composing in exactly the same way. She had thought him being silly at the time, but now she could see how such a look could cause such flowery words to spout from Garfield, one of the most stoic people in the world. It appealed to her.

And then he was gone again, having moved out of her limited scope, which encased only the desk and the tiny window above it, to settle himself behind the easel Kori had noticed earlier set in the center of the room. She couldn't see him, but she could hear him.

Silence filled the room. Both artist and model were left alone with their thoughts. Kori would at that moment have given anything to know his. Hers, however, were entertaining enough for the moment. Though Kori was a complete novice in the ways of lovemaking, that didn't stop her imagination from running wild. As puffs of warm autumn air wafted through the room they swept through in playful little circles, carrying back to Kori, after having traveled the room, familiar scents. The tang of the paints hit her nose first, and she couldn't decide whether or not she like the sharpness. Added to that was the sweetness of …was it…amaretto? Yes, if Kori pushed her eyes all the way to the right, she could just make out the edge of Richard's body and the open bottle of liqueur at his feet beside a small, half-filled shot glass. So, he liked to drink while he painted? She couldn't blame him; it was all she could do to keep her tounge from darting out, the better to taste the pungent drink on the air.

But favorite of all, the scent of sadlewood came to her welcoming scenses. It had the affect it had been having increasingly on her since the night she had first dreamed of him. Arousal raced throguh her viens and warmed her belly. She found herself breathing deeper just to catch a better wiff of this most powerful aphrodisiac.

The more she inhaled the scent, the wilder her imaginings became and it took every drop of willpower she had not to let the wanderings of her mind show on her face. Now that she had forgottten to worry that others might think her a tramp for what had gone on that morning, she was able to dwell on her memories with pleasure.

He had been so poweerful. Mimi was right; somehow, Kori didn't quite know why, having Richard take control complety had turned her on to no end. Dominant personality though Kori was, having someone else dominate her in that respect made her lose control. It left her breathless and confused.

Trying desperetly not to let any of her wild thoughts show, Kori wet her lips in what she hoped was a descrete manner and kept staring determinadly ahead, wondering all the while what he was thinking.

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Richard's though were not nearly so wild as his model's. At least, not at the moment.

At the moment he was staring contemplativly at his canvas, occasionally making small marks with an artisit's milk-pale pencil or taking a sip of the amaretto at his feet.

It was strange, but now that he had Kori here, he had no idea as how to progress. He just needed to take that first step, make that first mark, and he would be alright. But it was how to begin that was troubling him.

Always when Richard painted he had done so with cleara vision of the qualities in the model he wished to portray. But with Kori, there were so many; her kindness, her beauty, her intelligene and wit, her sensuality, her courage, her musical brillance. So many things about her astounded him that he was often left reeling.

Men held open doors for her without even seeming to think about it. Women stood partly in awe of her, partly in resentment and partly in affection. Hed had seen her walk into a room and the entire atmosphere had changed; things became more relaxed, more affectionate. Once he had even seen her enter the dining hall when two senior girls had been shouting in high tempers at each other, untill Kori had glided up beside them and, with a few quiet words, sent the girls in ther way, arms linked. The many ways she astounded him and kept him continually intruiged also kept him from being able to nail down a single one to paint.

And then it occurred to him; why bother trying to pick one aspect ot the woman to paint? Why not try to asscend to a higher level of arstisic brillance and attpempt to paint Kori as she really was; a whole woman? Why, if Richard could do that, then this painting would be the finest of his career so far.

Taking another fortifing swallow of amaretto, the young artist set to work.

The next few hours were filled with no sound except for the light breathing of artist and model and the scratching of his brush upon the canvas. As the sun set Richard began to pay more and more attention to the photos he had taken earlier, which he scrolled through on his camera. Finally he conceded defecate to the night and its ever increasing darkness and he sat back to observe his canvas fully.

He smiled. It was a start.

"We're done for tonight." He spoke softly, as his voice was hoarse from not being used for the better part of two hours.

Kori shifter to look at him. There was a rather dazed expression on her face and as she rose from the ottoman. Richard was sure he saw her twitch her head as though to rid herself of mind-cobwebs, almost like she had gone into the same trance Richard himself experienced when caught up in the fervor of painting.

He turned his back and allowed her to change in peace. Why was she being so quiet?

He poked his head out of his door and, once he had ascertained that there was no one in the study, turned back to find Kori, fully dressed and with the robe folded neatly in her arms, standing right behind him.

"Is it clear?" she whispered.

"Yeah."

She pressed the robe into his hands and smiled sweetly, albeit somewhat tiredly.

"Well, I should go." She said.

Richard began to wonder, had he done something wrong? Where was her usual affection?

"Um," he said quietly, "would you like me to walk you back to your dorm?"

"No no, I'll be alright. Sleep well my dear."

Their eyes locked. She leaned in just the littlest bit and slid one long fingered hand up to cup his cheek, much like he had done to her earlier. He willed his arms to move, to touch her, but as with every time they were alone, he froze. She rose up on her toes and brushed her lips softly against his cheek. She pulled back slightly, then, eyes drilling into Richard's, she grasped his cheek a little tighter and pressed her lips up against his, hard.

The passion was overwhelming, and all too fleeting, as Kori quickly pulled away and slid her slim body through the door. She looked back, a sweet, wicked smile lighting her face.

"Goodnight," She whispered.

He grinned ruefully, leaning heavily against the doorframe. "Damn woman, you make me crazy."

"I aim to please."

And with those parting words, Kori turned around and strolled out of the dorm humming tunelessly to herself and still half high on the orgy of scents made up by paint, amaretto and sandalwood.

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All right my darlings! Tell me what you thought!

Ciao mi amours!

Belle Mortre


	10. Chapter 9 Raven gets a letter

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I've updated in a vaguely timely fashion. Le gasp! Many many thanks to everyone for reviewing and especially those who offered to be my betas:

The adorable Starfire-is-not-a-wimp,

The rockin' punky-black,

The ever eloquentRxS4Lyfe,

The beyond wonderful Everlasting Chemistry

Thank you all for offering, even though I decided to go with…

The incredible XxStarRobinxX. Thanks for all your awesome work honey!.

And finally the sweetest of sweets BonitaChickia. Thanks for everything doll!

Note: the excerpt shown here is taken directly from Martin Cruz Smith's novel Gorky Park. I make no creative claims to his words whatsoever.

Note: the name of a city you readers will run across (Heraklion) is the name of a city on the island of Crete in Greece, just to clarify for anyone who might be confused when it comes up

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That first night set up an easy pattern for the next week for Kori and Richard. Breakfast in the morning with Garfield, Victor, Karen, and Raven, then off to rehearsals. Lunch, afternoon classes, at least half an hour spent listening to Kori and Garfield finish their rehearsal with the orchestra. Then dinner and an evening of compatible silent painting. Each evening was just as wonderful as the last; the silence was easy, not awkward, and each session was ended with a smile and a kiss. In the morning they never spoke about what went on in the secret haven of Richard's room, they never gave any outward sign or infatuation in public. They had a delicious little secret that, though they never addressed the subject outright, they both knew they wanted to keep just between them for the moment.

After their first kiss, Richard had been more than a little confused, but then they began to slip into a rhythm together, speaking only with their actions. He was always careful to restrain himself with her, hard as that was. But when he kissed her he could taste her innocence on her lips, eager as she clearly was, and he found that he had an incredible amount of respect for her mixed in with a deeper emotion that he couldn't yet name, and because of that, he never let himself loose control when he kissed her goodbye each night.

The first week after they began their sessions together passed in a happy haze for Kori and Richard.

Unfortunately, things weren't going quite so well for some of their friends.

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Raven turned the page in her copy of _Gorky Park_ and continued to read as she walked slowly back to her dorm after her last class of the afternoon. She was utterly absorbed in the words.

'_All nights should be so dark, all winters so warm, all headlights so dazzling. The van jacked, stalled and quit on a drift, and the homicide team got out, militia officers cut from a pattern of short arms and low brows, wrapped in sheepskin greatcoats. The one not in uniform was a lean, pale man, the chief investigator. He listened sympathetically to the tale of the officer who had found the bodies in the snow: the man had only strayed so far from the park footpath in the middle of the night to relive himself, then he saw them, himself half undone, as it were, and just about froze, too. The team followed the beam of the van's spotlight'. _

So absorbed was she that Raven didn't even notice she was in front of her door until she walked straight into it. The dark woman shook her hair out of her face, tucked her book away into her bag and opened her front door.

She was greeted immediately by the sight of Padma spread out on the couch, feet in the air and one arm thrown over her head across the arm of the sofa. She was speaking rapidly in Hindi to whoever she was on the phone with who, judging by the amount of giggling that was going on, was probably not her mother.

Raven slipped around the couch, perfectly content to ignore her giggling roommate when Padma called out to her.

"Oh, Raven! Wait," she spoke into the phone. "Hold on Varun. Raven! Hello dear, how were your classes?"

"Fine. What is it?"

"I passed by the mail room earlier and I found two things for you."

"Thanks."

"Here." Padma reached under the table for her own backpack and pulled from it a small thin package and an envelope. She looked down at the package. "I think this must be that copy of _Iron and Silk_ you ordered." She tossed the slim brown wrapped book to Raven, who caught it, and then looked down at the envelope. "And I don't know what this is, but it's postmarked Berlin, Germany. Do you know anyone who-"

Raven reached across the space between them and snatched the letter from Padma's hand. "No. It must just be junk mail."

"From Germany? Who gets junk-mail from Germany?"

"Just leave it, okay. Don't you know it's really rude to read other people's mail?" She snapped.

"Hey Raven! I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to snoop, I was just looking through the mail to see what was mine and I noticed the address. Please don't be angry."

Padma's eyes were big and round in the same pleading expression Raven knew she used on her choral director when she was late for class…and there was a reason it worked every time. Raven felt her brow unclench.

She sighed. "Of course I'm not angry."

Padma smiled immediately and blew Raven a kiss before returning to her phone call with her betrothed Varun.

The darker woman ignored all this as she retreated to her room, for all appearances intent on opening her package but the second she was safe behind her bedroom door the half opened package was tossed onto the bed without a second thought.

She stared down at the letter in her hands. The crisp white envelope with its pretty little stamp featuring a miniature seen of the Alps mocked her with its outer purity, when Raven knew of, even feared, its tainted contents.

She dreaded letters from her mother. On the rare occasions that Arella Roth was lucid enough to pen a few words to her daughter they were distant and unaffectionate. Raven knew that her mother loved her unconditionally, and vice versa, but sometimes, late at night, when Raven was lying awake in bed she remembered the days from her childhood when Arella had been a loving mother. Those beautiful summer days they used to spend in Heraklion with Raven's maternal grandparents. Before their deaths by car crash, that was.

After that, Raven and Arella had never gone back to Europe. They wouldn't leave their quiet little suburb on Long Island again until Arella was comitted when Raven eleven. It had been a mistake to return to New York, because once she was surrounded by all the things that would have brought back the old memories, the easier it was for the pain and madness to consume Raven's mother. It had surprised many of the doctors and social workers attending to Arella's case that the daughter had not followed in the way of the mother when Raven had found out what it was that had driven her mother to near suicide. When she learned that she, Raven, was a product of rape.

Raven suddenly realized that her hands were shaking as they held the envelope. She shut her eyes tight and tried to breath deep. If she let herself sink into the same panic that her mother constantly batteled, then Raven would be no better off than Arella was herself.

With trembling slowness, Raven sat herself down at her vanity table and slit the end of the envelope with one long blood-red nail.

She slid out the decorative letterhead, took one look at the handwriting, and instantly her stomach unclenched. The gently curling script was not only not her mother's but also not even English.

Her eyes scanned the letter.

Liebes Fräulein Roth,

Es ist mit dem schwersten Schmerz, den ich Ihnen diesen Brief jetzt schreibe. Ich bin Ebba Veicht, Mutter die Überlegen sind vom Dalldorf Abby; wo Sie Damenmutter ist gewesen in Wohnsitz diese zuletzt wenige Jahre, während Sie gut wissen. Die anderen Schwestern und ich haben immer Sie beschriften zu Ihnen Mutter, als es wir ist, die sie zu Arella lesen, wenn sie bis zu solchen Dingen, und jedem von uns hier an Dalldorf fühlt, ist je so stolz genossen, von Ihren Triumphen an Ihrer Amerikanisch Schule zu hören. Ich habe ein Bild der Abtei an Dalldorf eingeschlossen, damit Sie wissen könnten, was das Gebiet aussieht, wie. Ich hoffe, dass Sie es ebenso schön finden werden, als die Schwestern und Sie Mutter macht.

Ich entschuldige mich meinen Liebsten, sehen ich, dass Sie diese alte Frau für ihre Streifzüge werden vergeben müssen, für Sie befürchte, dass ich sehr hart versuche, zu nicht erzählen, dass Sie etwas Sie von allen Leuten wissen muss.

Über den letzten wenigen Monaten Sie ist Mutter erschienen, eine ziemlich verblüffende Rückgewinnung; ihre Perioden der Klarheit wurden länger zu machen, streckend sogar für mehrere Tage auf einmal aus. Wir hatten sie ermutigt, mehr Dinge für sich selbst zu machen, und wir hatten eine markierte Verbesserung in ihren täglichen Wechselwirkungen mit etwas von den anderen Patienten bemerkt.

Wir haben Ihren letzten Brief und Schwester Ilse empfangen, die sehr zärtlich von Ihrer Mutter ist, haben Arella aus in den Garten genommen, den Brief zu lesen, als sie immer machen. Mein Liebster, ich ist ängstlich zu sagen, dass als Schwester Ilse begonnen hat, Sie zu lesen, beschriften, Ihre Damenmutter ist geworden ziemlich gepeinigt an Ihnen formulieren, unspezifisches und nicht bedrohend, als sie waren. Es erscheint, als ob Arella einen anderen psychotischen Bruch gehabt hat, und ist in ihrer Krankheit und den anderen Schwestern züruckgegangen und die ich habe übereingestimmt, obwohl es uns großen Schmerz bringt, so zu machen, das es wäre am besten, wenn Sie Sie Mutter für eine Kurzarbeit nicht kontaktiert haben, als es der Brief war, der Satz sie in ihren Zusammenbruch. Mein armes Kind, das es war keine Entscheidung die wir hören an Dalldorf hat genommen leicht, aber wenn wir haben beurteilt dass Sie Mutter einmal fähiger ist, ich werde wieder schreiben und werde Sie wissen lassen, dass es sicher noch einmal ist, Ihre Mutter zu kontaktieren.

Auf Wiedersehen Kind, und kann Gott Aussehen über Ihnen in allen, dass Sie machen.

Ihr großer Gläubiger, und demütigt Diener von unserem Herrn, Ebba Veicht, Mutter Überlegen, Dalldorf Abtei:Berlin, Deutschland

She sighed. Why had she never bothered to study German in junior high? Of all the languages she could have studied before coming to Summerset and she had to choose Latin. It was a fucking dead language! What had she been thinking? Latin had been such a waste and she wasn't even very good at it.

Great! Now she had to go find someone who could translate German to English. Awesome.

'_Wait a minute!' _Raven thought suddenly_. 'Kori! She speaks German…doesn't she?'_

Just then the front door opened and shut and Kori's voice crooned slowly, _"What are you doing the rest of your life? North and South and East and West of your life. I have only one request of your life. That you spend it all with me."_

Raven poked her head out of her door to see Kori tossing her bag onto the couch and dancing around the room singing to herself. Padma had retreated to her room to finish her conversation with Varun.

"Kori…Kori!" Raven shouted to get her roommate's attention.

Kori turned one last circle and looked up. "Yes Raven?"

"Someone have a good day?" Raven asked waspishly.

"Yes, it was fine. Until I passed by the main office and the Headmaster's secretary had '_What are you doing the rest of your life?' _playing on the radio. It's been stuck in my head for two hours."

"Whatever. Look, Kori… I kind of need a favor."

"Anything."

"Um…"Raven was suddenly uneasy; even Kori, whom Raven trusted above all, didn't know the complete truth about her mother. "Uh, I got a letter from my mother in Germany today, but the only thing is that it was written in German and-"

"Why would your mother write to you in a language which you do not understand?" Kori's voice was innocently inquisitive.

"That's not important, she's just weird like that." Raven said quickly. "I just need some help. You speak German, don't you?"

"Only a little bit; not really enough to translate the contents of a letter."

"Oh." Raven's spirits, already low from the arrival of the letter, fell even lower still.

And then Kori spoke the words that made the bottom drop out of Raven's stomach completely. "But you could always ask Garfield. He speaks fluent German."

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_She shuttered, moaning under his touch. _

_His lips played over her bared breasts, his breath shuddering against her skin and his tongue flicking across pert, rosy nipples that contrasted stunningly against her pale skin. _

_They were perched on the same chair, he with his torso against the back of the chair and his legs spread wide to accommodate her slimmer body between them. Her back was pressed up against his stomach and chest. _

_Her head was thrown back against his shoulder and her tiny pants of ecstasy and building desire were like the sweetest music to him. He bent her back farther against him, the better to cover the sweet bud of her breast with his mouth. _

_One hand massaged her unattended breast while the other snuck stealthy into her lap and then down between her spread legs. _

_The moment his fingers brushed across her hot, swollen folds her eyes flew open and she gasped in pleasure. He rained kisses across her shoulders, neck and cheeks before coming back up to her lips to reclaim her mouth with his own. All the while he was gently massaging her most sensitive nub with two gentle, yet searing, fingers. _

"_Please…" Raven whispered between desperate pants. _

_He grinned into her neck, kissing her right below her ear. He removed his hand from her nether regions only long enough to grasp her around the waist and stand her up. She spun swiftly and then returned to his touch, this time straddling him in a most pleasing way. He guided her hips as she lifted herself up and was just about to slide herself over his throbbing member when-._

When Garfield's eyes snapped open and he was thrown out of his dream. Sweat beaded his brow; his breath came in short bursts. He curled his legs up to his chest and leaned his head against his knees, waiting for his breathing and heart rate to slow.

He stared off into space and wondered why he had to dream about her so incessantly. Every time he closed his eyes, there she was, a wonton caricature of the creature he so revered.

He had only lain down in his room for a quick catnap before dinner, not an erotic interlude into his deeper, darker thoughts! It was enough to drive him crazy.

It was all hopeless; never in a thousand years would a woman as beautiful and creative as Raven ever deign to notice him, let alone become involved with him. In the almost three years that had known each other, Raven and Garfield had almost never had a conversation without an entire room full of people around them. And even then, they had always been terribly ambiguous; they would discuss a concert Kori and he had held, or perhaps a book they had both read at some time. Between Raven always being so guarded with everyone and Garfield keeping up his careful shields whenever he was around her, they had never connected on any level beyond a cautious friendship

If he could just tell her how he felt…but that was entirely out of the question. He was so incredibly shy with women that he wasn't sure he could even begin to articulate his feelings to her outside of his imagination In his mind he could spout beautiful words of affection and adoration to her, but in the real world he was like a fish hauled from the ocean left to gasp on the docks, dazed and floundering.

It would all be so much easier if he could simply show her how he felt. Just take her in his arms and…

Gelfarius was right. He was crazy. Completely out of his mind, though Gelfie hadn't been referring to Garfield's infatuation with Raven at the time. The conductor had been referring to Garfield's obsessive need to protect Kori. It had been the morning after Kori had Garfield had returned to their hotel while in Dublin the previous spring. Garfield had had a split lip and Kori's clothes were askew and when Gelfarius had pumped them for information about their respective states, all the pair would give up was that there had been a man in a pub harassing Kori. It hadn't needed saying that he had beaten the pig to all bloody hell.

Yep, he was crazy in just about every aspect of his life.

He felt the familiar pressure and heat in his lower belly and he groaned. He did not have time for this right now!

The situation could not possibly get any worse even if she were to walk through the door at that very moment.

And that was when he heard the front door open. "Hello?" Her voice was unmistakable even through Garfield's closed bedroom door. "Is anybody home?"

Why did god hate him?

She spoke again. "Garfield, are you here? I need to talk to you."

Panic seized him like a vice.

His voice was croaky when he finally managed to make a discernable sound. "Um, hold on, I'll be right out."

The first thought that came to mind was of Raven standing out there in the study, the evening sun coming in through the windows to soften and illuminate her beautiful features. Naturally, that didn't help the situation.

Immediately he sent his thoughts in the direction of the old Slavic woman who used to baby-sit him as a child. Between memories of the perpetual smell of cabbage and the three hairy moles that had sprung from one spot on her upper lip, Garfield's 'crisis' was quickly averted.

He jumped from the bed and smoothed his hands over his clothes to make sure he was all in order before facing her.

Garfield opened his door to find Raven perched on the edge of his couch, crossed wrists resting in her lap and a folded piece of parchment clutched in one hand. He took in her tight black jeans and the loose, white men's dress shirt that had been tied in a tasteful knot at the top of her jeans and his heart rate was kicked back up another few notches. There was nothing overtly sexual about the way she was dressed, in fact it was downright conservative by most standards, but there was something special about Raven that made the simple clothes into something much more.

He gulped before saying, "Uh, hi. You needed to talk to me?"

"Yeah. I, uh, have this small problem and…well, Kori said that you could help me with it." She seemed almost as uncomfortable as he did, though Garfield supposed not for the same reason.

"I'll help you in anyway I can." Did he seem too eager? He prayed she didn't notice.

"Oh good. See, here's the thing: my mother lives in Germany, in an abbey just outside of Berlin-"

"No way; your mom's a nun?" he interjected.

"Um…uh, sort of." Raven seemed to be getting more and more nervous by the second. "The point is that I got a letter from…well, actually I'm not sure who it's from but I can only suppose that it must be from one of the other nuns because it's postmarked from the abbey and it's in German. Kori said that you might be able to translate it for me."

He said softly, "Sure, anything you want."

Raven finally looked him square in the eye. There was something almost questioning in her gaze but when she spoke it was only to say, "Thank you."

She rose from the couch and extended the hand holding the letter. He took it wordlessly, though every cell in his body was screaming at him to tell her right then and there, but all he did was stick the letter away in a pocket.

Raven turned and was almost to the door when Garfield burst out in a strained voice, "Raven!"

She looked back over her shoulder at him. "Yes?"

_This is it you fool!_ His mind was screaming. _Tell her! Just fucking tell her!_ But all that came out of his mouth was, "Um…I should have this done in a few days. I'll bring it by your room when I'm finished."

"Thanks."

And then she was gone, leaving Garfield to bang his head against the wall.


	11. Chapter 10 Phone calls

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Happiness: I just got into college!!! Am very bad author for not updating for…ugh, let's not even say how long, but am very happy girl because I can now relax on the college front.

This chapter had to be split in two, or else you all wouldn't have heard from me before next Christmas.

Oh! Also, if anyone is interested in the book The Thief Lord, I have a small piece over there that could use some lovin and I just posted a smutty piece on voyeurism in the same venue last night. Warning: the second piece is COMPLETE smut…whether you think that is a good thing or not is entirely up to you :)

Please enjoy and review.

PS: "Bon matin" is French for "good morning"

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Lartan Gelfarious sat at the table in his suit of rooms in the top floor of the Summerset School dialing a phone number from memory. As ambiguous hold music filled his ear he leaned back in his chair and craned his neck to see into his bedroom.

Marguerite lay on the bed. She was snuggled up in the twist of sheets and comforter that their previous night's lovemaking had left, her pretty curls spread out on the pillow like a fan. The more he looked at her the more he smiled.

For eleven years he had been teaching at Summerset and since the moment Marguerite had walked into his office to welcome him on that crisp fall day more than a decade before she had fascinated him.

At the time they were both young and wildly beautiful. They were free spirits who had danced around each other for five years, becoming close friends through each other's fleeting romances with outsiders until the day, six years ago, when they had turned to around and realized that all they really wanted could be found in each other.

He was the shy, passionate lover she had always craved and she was the one of the few people he had ever really confided in since his family had first migrated to America from Russia thirty years earlier. Marguerite had been the one to soothe and comfort Lartan after his parent's had passed away and there was no family left for him in America, his older twin sisters Oxsasa and Natalia having returned to Russia some time before. The girls had wanted their brother to go with them but he had been so young when the family had left Moscow, only a child of four, that he was more of an American that a Russian by that time. The move back had been easier for his sisters, who were considerably older than Lartan (forty-five to his thirty-four) and they remembered their motherland and its customs better than their brother.

A recorded voice intruded in his ear. "Thank you for your patience. Your call is very important to us and you needs will be attended to momentarily."

This recaptured Lartan's attention and his smile widened further as he remembered the talk he and Marguerite had had the night before while laying in bed. He had confessed his plans to her, hoping that she would be supportive of his decision, fearing that it would turn her away.

But when he had told her all that he had planned she had kissed him gently on the lips, holding his face between her hands, and told him that she loved him and wanted him to be happy and would support him in whatever he chose to do.

Lartan was truly blessed; Marguerite was so-

"Hello?" a woman's warm voice came on the line.

He said, "Hello, Mrs. Waverly?"

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"Mrs. Waverly, this is Lartan Gelfarious."

"Oh! Hello Lartan. How are you and the kids?"

"I'm fine, kids are fine. How about you?"

"Wonderful; my niece just got accepted to Yale. Now, what can I do for you today?"

"I need to talk to you about Kori and Garfield."

"I mailed the papers to you on Tuesday. Did you get them yet?"

"Mmmhmm. They arrived yesterday." Lartan shuffled through the forms and documents spread across his desk, all emblazoned with the monogram of Waverly, Hill and Stein Family Law. Marguerite stirred in the bed behind him. "I called to clarify a few things before I talked to the kids."

"Sure, what do you need to know?"

Lartan jumped slightly when Marguerite slipped herself onto the chair behind him, wrapping her arms and legs around his torso. She kissed him just below the ear.

"Bon matin, chéri," she whispered huskily, her breath tickling his ear.

He smiled. It was going to be a good day.

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A few hours later, Garfield was rummaging around in his desk for a pen when his cell phone rang.

He was so engrossed in beginning the translation of Raven's letter, which had been sitting unexamined on his desk for two days due to a massive avalanche of homework, that at first he didn't register the sound of the rings.

But then, somewhere around the eighth ring, Garfield snapped out of his translation-induced reverie and he answered his phone.

"Hello?" he said distantly.

"Hey Gar, it's Gelf. Are you busy right now?"

"Ah…no, not particularly. Why?"

"I need to talk to you and Kori."

"Sure. Right now?"

"If you could; it's rather important."

"Okay. I'll grab Kori and we'll be upstairs in a few minutes."

"Thanks."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Garfield closed his phone and reluctantly stashed Raven's letter away in his desk. He was only a few words into the translation and had been planning on devoting most of that quiet Saturday morning to decoding the missive, but if Gelfarious said that it was important then he, Garfield, had better find Kori and get up to the conductor's apartment.

He flipped open his phone again and dialed his best friend's number.

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Thought Garfield didn't know it, Kori was much closer than he thought. Across the boy's study and behind Richard's closed bedroom door Kori was sitting quite happily on the floor in front of Richard's open balcony doors.

She and her host sat opposite each other, warmed in by the autumn sun that was twinkling in through the open doors. The day was unseasonably warm for the end of October and the pair had decided to celebrate what might well be the last nice day of fall by running their lines in the sunshine.

They sat with two glasses of water and a bottle of pepperoncinis pocketed from the kitchen that morning after breakfast on the floor between them. The scripts they should have been reading lay discarded off to the side.

Richard popped a pepper into his mouth and winced as the sweet but bitter heat of the pepper filled his mouth, which set Kori laughing at the expression on his face.

Richard studied her laughing form. It was remarkable how much one person's laughter could please him.

The urge to reach across the space between them and touch her was overwhelming. He knew how soft her cheek would feel against his fingers. He longed to feel her lips on his. It was coming to the point when a few secret nighttime kisses could no longer occupy his lust. Where it not for the fact that he had never been so perplexed by a women before he might have very well worked his way into her bed already.

That though brought to mind the conversation he had had with his guardian the night before, after Kori had gone to bed.

After a week of stewing privately in his guilt over his parting with Bruce, Richard had finally called home and mended things with the older man. There hadn't really been too much too apologize for from either party; both were just so glad to be on speaking terms again that the argument was put aside quickly.

Richard and Bruce had talked for over an hour about many things, though mainly about how Richard was settling into his new home. Richard had presented a positive report. He explained about his classes, shared a laugh with Bruce over the idea of Richard performing in a musical and sucked up all the news that Bruce sent from home, all the while skillfully avoiding motioning Kori.

But Bruce wasn't just a pretty face; he was terribly intuitive and could always tell when something was bothering Richard.

"Okay, what aren't you telling me?" Bruce had gently pried.

"Well…there's this girl."

"Of course there is." Bruce didn't seem surprised.

"_No_. This girl is different. She's…god, I don't know."

"Try to explain it."

"It's like…" he said pensively, staring at the ceiling, "…like being in a foreign country: where you don't know the customs and you know you probably shouldn't be there but you can't for the life of you get out and you don't know the land and you don't know what to do and you have no idea how things are going to end because it's like no other country you've ever been in before…but _god_, it is so beautiful"

"She sounds interesting."

"She is! She's really incredible."

"Just do what feels right Rich. I've never gone wring that way."

The younger man mulled over his mentor's words as his gaze swept over the smooth planes of Kori's face.

Richard couldn't take it any more. He leaned forward and captured her mouth with his own eagerly hot one. Her eyes widened in surprise before slipping closed.

Ever so gently Richard pushed against her closed lips with his tongue and without hesitating Kori parted her lips. His tongue slipped into the warm abyss of her mouth and she moaned low in her throat, a sound matched by Richard's own happy growl.

His hands slid up her shoulders and pushed against her until Kori was flat on her back. She laughed softly, gazing up at him with a iniquitous twinkle in her eyes. The sight was enough to make Richard's manhood throb with need.

He kissed her again, no longer trying to conceal his desire.

Richard leaned over her, supporting himself on his forearms. One hand cradled her cheek while the other roamed over the curve of her back, waist and hips. She responded beautifully.

Kori's chest rose and fell in time with his as their breathing quickened. Her hands wove themselves in his dark hair and she pulled him in more firmly against her mouth. He gave a muffled groan in response to her boldness, which he found highly arousing.

She tasted so sweet, like raspberries and sugar, and her hair smelled of coconuts.

Never before had Kori been kissed like this and though she was a little bit nervous about the practiced ease with which Richard handled himself, she made no sound of protest. Her mind was quickly being clouded by desire.

Richard pulled his mouth away from hers and began laying slow kisses along her throat that blazed wonderfully wherever his lips touched her skin.

"Ah…oooooh," She moaned, head tipped back and eyes shut, a trembling smile on her lips.

He grinned against her neck.

Suddenly Kori's phone rang and, as though it were lightning in the sky, Kori gasped and stiffened. Metallic music emanated from the phone, which lay only a few inches from her head.

_I saw her today at a reception  
A glass of wine in her hand  
I knew she would meet her connection  
At her feet was her footloose man_

"That…that's Garfield!" She manages to gasp out between shaking breaths as Richard played havoc with her earlobe between his lips.

He laughed softly into her skin. "So answer it."

"What!?" She laughed, scandalized.

He grinned at her wickedly and moved the cell phone into her hand. "Answer it. And try not to moan too loudly."

His tongue and teeth returned to their attacked on her earlobe. The tiny nibbles and his warm breath against her neck sent shivers down her spine.

Emboldened by her desire, Kori flipped the phone open and said, "Hello?" She prayed that her best friend didn't notice how soft her voice was, or how breathy it had become in the face of Richard's deft fingers, which were now tracing small circles around her belly button.

"Hey Kor. Are you busy right now?"

"Um…uhh, why?" She had to pull the phone away from her mouth momentarily to keep Garfield hearing her gasp as Richard began laving his tongue across the same trail his fingers had just charted. "Stop that!" she whispered urgently.

He just grinned up at her again. "No."

Garfield spoke in her ear again. "Because Gelf just called and asked us both up to his apartment. He said he had something to talk to us about. Are you free?"

"Yes!" Kori said, a little too emphatically, as that was the moment Richard chose to return to the most sensitive part of her neck and suck gently at the pulse that pounded just beneath her skin.

"Kori? Are you okay?" Garfield asked.

"Yes." She said, once she had gotten her voice back under control. "Yeah. Um…I'll meet you there, right?"

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

Mercifully the line went dead. Kori looked down at the man who was laying half across her and currently tracing shapes on her collarbone.

"You have to go?" He said, somewhat mournfully.

"Yes."

Richard looked into her eyes and smiled. "Take a minute before you leave: you're all flushed."

"Well, if someone would learn to keep their hands to themselves…" But she was smiling and laughing as she re-adjusted her clothes and rose from the floor. She walked to the door, but turned back to him at the last moment. Kori's bright green gaze appraised him thoughtfully.

She shook her head and smiled. "You could make a lot of trouble for me, Richard. Grayson."

He met her smile with one of his own. "I generally do."


End file.
